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Seal the deal before we come together: Akhilesh on joining Cong yatra
Talks for Cong-SP seat sharing for LS polls going on; SP sends ‘final offer’ of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress
Even as suspense over seat sharing between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls continues, the latter has now said it will join the grand old party’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra only after the deal between the two is locked.
Earlier, the SP had said it will leave 15 seats, largely of its choice, for the Congress which has not acknowledged the offer till date. When asked about his joining the yatra, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on the sidelines of an event told reporters here on Monday, “The SP will join Rahul Gandhi’s nyay yatra once the seat-sharing deal is finalised. Right now, talks are going on, lists have come from them. We have also given them the list.”
Hours after Akhilesh’s comments, SP national secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said: “We have given a final offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav’s participation in the nyay yatra in Rae Bareli on Tuesday will depend on their acceptance.”
Earlier this month, Akhilesh had got the Congress’s invitation to join the yatra that entered Uttar Pradesh on February 16. After the invite, Akhilesh had said he will join it. Subsequently, the SP announced that the party chief will join the yatra either in Amethi or in Rae Bareli.
The deadlock
On January 27, Akhilesh unilaterally announced 11 seats (without naming them) for the Congress. Three days later on January 30, the SP again announced 16 seats for itself and fielded candidates on those seats. Interestingly, five of these sixteen seats namely Kheri, Dhaurahra, Farrukhabad, Akbarpur and Faizabad are among those 21 seats that the Congress had won in 2009 and wanting for itself for the 2024 polls.
The SP chief has already dismissed the Congress’s demand of seats that it had won in 2009, saying that political situation has changed drastically since then.
Sources in the Congress say not only did the SP announce candidates on several seats that the Congress wanted, but it is also offering seats such as Kaiserganj, Bansgaon, Mathura, Bulandshahr or Baghpat where the Congress has not planned at all to contest polls in INDIA bloc alliance.
INDIA bloc in dire straits
After the exit of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar from the alliance, besides West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s tough posturing coupled with National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah’s unclear stance, it is largely Uttar Pradesh where the INDIA bloc and the Congress have some hope left.
On its part, the SP too has only the Congress left in the name of the alliance as of now. Its long standing U.P. ally Rashtriya Lok Dal has exited from the SP alliance and the INDIA bloc. The SP’s 2022 UP polls alliance partner Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party had quit the SP alliance within months after the 2022 assembly polls. The Apna Dal (K) has also indicated a break-up with the SP.
Bharat Jodo Nyay yatra enters Amethi
Moreover, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Amethi on Monday and will reach Rae Bareli on Tuesday. Thereafter, the yatra will enter Lucknow on Tuesday evening.
It will cover Rae Bareli and Lucknow on Tuesday (February 20). After this, the yatra will have only three days in the state—February 21 (Unnao and Kanpur) and then after taking a break will cover Sambhal, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras and Agra on February 24 and 25 before entering Rajasthan.
