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Whiff of deeper fractures in the SP-Congress rift?
No decision yet on alliance with grand old party for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls; if India bloc falls apart, the grand old party will be responsible for it: SP leader
LUCKNOW Amid rumblings within the INDIA bloc, the Samajwadi Party on Friday said that no decision had yet been taken on an alliance with the Congress for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2027. It may forge an alliance with smaller parties for UP polls, instead of the Congress, just like it did in 2022, said senior SP leaders.
“A decision for an alliance with the grand old party is yet to be taken. The Congress is not looking serious to defeat the BJP, and is busy with its own propaganda,” said SP vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda, a day after J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah spoke about the rift within the INDIA bloc.
“The Congress is working with the INDIA bloc with a big brother attitude...if the alliance is destroyed, the grand old party will be responsible for it,” he told HT.
Nanda added: “The SP and the BJP are the only two parties in UP. The others have negligible existence. The 17 seats we shared with the Congress in 2024 LS polls were our seats. It was done in the larger interest of the INDIA bloc. What will be done in the 2027 UP assembly polls is yet to be decided by the SP. It will all depend on the approach of the Congress.”
“Due to the Congress, BJP came to power in Haryana. And it was only due to the SP and the Trinamool Congress that BJP did not get full majority in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The NDA, not the BJP government, was formed,” claimed Nanda.
The SP announced its support for Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi assembly elections, saying it chose AAP over Congress as the former was in a better position to defeat the BJP in Delhi assembly polls, he added.
To a query about seat sharing with the Trinamool Congress, Nanda said, “If the TMC wants a seat, we will discuss about it. Our main aim is to defeat the BJP in 2027.” The SP won 111 assembly seats on its own in 2022 UP polls, while the Congress got only two.
Reacting to the SP V-P’s statement, UP Congress Committee chief Ajay Rai said, “We accept that we have just two MLAs in the UP assembly, but this tally will surely rise in 2027. The Congress is fighting for the issues of people. We are also strengthening our organisation at the same time. On the issue of alliance for 2027 UP polls, the party will take a call at an appropriate time.”
