New Delhi: Talks of an alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh have hit a roadblock on the number of seats each party will get, according to sources.
The Samajwadi Party’s meagre seats’ offer to Congress has irked the party, which has been campaigning on a massive scale in the state. That is perhaps the reason none of the parties has come forward and confirmed the reports.
The Samajwadi Party apparently wants the Congress, RLD and the JD(U) to limit themselves to a little more than 100 seats. This means that the Congress will have to restrict itself to 88 seats, a suggestion the party is not pleased with, given that it has been organising a high-octane campaign in Uttar Pradesh since July this year.
For the alliance to come about, the Congress will need a minimum of 100 seats and also the specific seats. The political logic behind this is that it will lead to consolidation of the Muslim Yadav vote.
Ideally, the Congress would have been more at ease with BSP. The other issue with the proposed alliance is the allocation of Assembly seats in the parliamentary constituencies of Amethi and Rae Barielly.
One of the MLAs from Amethi is a sitting cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. The other is the assembly segment Unchahar in Rae Barielly where another sitting MLA is the cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. These are some of the rough edges which need to be ironed out if a deal has to be struck.
According to sources in the Congress, the party wants to delay the decision for it is waiting for the December 30 deadline (of demonetisation) to get over. Post that, there will be an assessment whether it will be beneficial for the party to go in for an alliance or contest alone.
Incidentally, the Congress vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, has taken on the Samajwadi Party government in his rallies and yatras but has not hit out at the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav.
The same holds true for Mr Akhilesh, who has never taken a direct dig at Mr Rahul. This is being done to avoid any embarrassment if the two parties do decide to come together to contest elections.
