SP-RLD, Congress joining hands in UP now a strong possibility

This day will go down in Indian history as the “Bengaluru revolution of patriotism and positive politics,” stated Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet

LUCKNOW The meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru gave clear indications of Samajwadi Party (SP) and its allies – the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Apna Dal (K) - joining hands with the Congress. SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who will be the lead player in INDIA vs NDA in the Uttar Pradesh battleground, signed off the 26 parties’ meeting, calling it the ‘Bengaluru Revolution’.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the Bengaluru meet . (Sourced)

The opposition alliance that will take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was named Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

This day will go down in Indian history as the “Bengaluru revolution of patriotism and positive politics,” stated Yadav in a tweet in Hindi.

The SP chief’s counterpart in RLD, Jayant Chaudhary wrote: “Bharat will emerge stronger when the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (India) wins!.”

“Hamara INDIA jeetega (Our INDIA will win),” tweeted the RLD.

Yadav elaborated on the alliance acronym ‘INDIA’ in his way by calling it “Inclusive National Democratic India for All (INDIA)”. He took a dig at the parallel BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) meeting of the 38 constituent parties, saying: “Had they added two more, it would have made it 38+2=40...I hope all have heard that story.”

With the end of the two-day meeting and posturing by SP, Congress, and RLD, all speculations over their coming together ended.

“While now there are SP, RLD, Congress, and Apna Dal (K) in UP, more are likely to come on board in time to come,” said Sudhir Panwar, a senior SP leader and spokesperson of the party, adding: “UP has the maximum Lok Sabha seats - 80. Now, Akhilesh Yadav has a huge responsibility and challenge being the leader of the principal opposition party with a 32% vote share.”

“From the Bengaluru meeting, it is clear that the SP, Congress, RLD and Apna Dal (K) alliance will challenge the BJP. Akhilesh Yadav has vast experience in running alliances smoothly with Congress and other political parties,” he added.

The Samajwadi Party, since Akhilesh Yadav took over the party’s leadership, had contested three elections- all in alliances. It contested the 2017 UP assembly polls in alliance with the Congress; the 2019 LS polls in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the RLD; and then had vowed not to contest any polls with any big parties and contested the 2022 UP assembly polls in alliance with RLD, Apna Dal (K), and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (which on Sunday joined the NDA). In all three experiments, the SP had failed to defeat the BJP.

However, it’s the first time the SP, under his leadership, has entered a national alliance. With subsequent meetings of the alliance partners, more contours of INDIA in UP, and also nationally - like a common minimum programme (CMP) and seat sharing formula - are likely to be clear in times to come.

UP Congress president Brajlal Khabri, who in the not-so-distant past, had in response to Yadav’s repeated statement that the SP with its allies will contest all 80 seats in UP, had said the Congress will also contest all 80 seats in UP. However, Khabri on Tuesday said: “We have to save the country, and for this, all have united. Regarding other things, whatever the Congress high command decides, we will follow.”

RLD national spokesperson Anil Dubey said: “RLD, SP, Congress and Apna Dal (K) are on board. The opposition alliance will win.”

Akhilesh Yadav broke his vow of not allying with any big parties, and with this, the Bengaluru meeting also fulfilled the wish of Jayant Chaudhary - of seeing the Congress on board in UP.

In a late-night tweet, Akhilesh said: “India will make INDIA win.”