LUCKNOW: Stalemate continues in alliance talks between Samajwadi Party and Congress, a day after Akhilesh Yadav‘s team sent out a final offer – a list of 17 seats to Congress after several rounds of discussions between the two. The Congress, which has been demanding 20 seats, was yet to respond to SP’s offer amid reports that it was not the count but specific seats that have surfaced as a major bone of contention between the two.
Talks between SP and Congress have been on the backburner for quite some time with SP pointing fingers at the grand old party for the delay in finalizing the seat-sharing talks. According to sources, it has been a month since the two sides have had a meeting in person to discuss the alliance. Thereafter the two sides sent a letter each – one sent by Congress MP Mukul Wasnik who is the convenor of a committee constituted by the Congress to discuss alliances and another sent out by SP secretary general Ram Gopal Yadav. Wasnik’s letter was accompanied by a list of seats that Congress wanted, and the SP’s reply had reservations over sparing some of these seats for the alliance partner.
“Our party chief is keen on an alliance with the Congress for polls. He agreed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand of 17 seats and the party has sent a list of these seats to the Congress,” said SP national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary. Salman Khurshid, who is part of the Congress’s five-member National Alliance committee, has also maintained a similar position, according to sources. He said both sides were trying to analyse the best possible scenario for them and that such an exercise takes time.
Sources privy to the negotiations said it was not about the count of seats but specific seats that the Congress wants. Most of these seats are the ones which SP had won either in Lok Sabha polls or have performed exceptionally well in most of these seats’ assembly segments not only in 2022 but earlier as well.
“To be more specific, most of the seats that Congress wants have a Muslim-Yadav winning combination. How can we spare these seats for the alliance partners?” said a senior SP leader. The SP leadership had also sought names of candidates that the Congress plans to field on seats that they have asked for to help assess winnability factor of every constituency. But the Congress has not provided names of candidates for these seats, sources said.
Uncomfortable by the stance of the SP, Congress insisted that the winnability quotient of the seats that SP had offered was very low in the present political scenario. Hence, there was no reason for the party to agree to such a formula. “How can the performance of a party be decided on the results of previous elections which had many variables? SP contested 2019 elections with BSP as alliance partner, we went alone. This time both will contest independently. How can you compare?” said a senior Congress functionary.
The SP list of 17 seats includes Amroha, Deoria and Barabanki while the Congress has asked for Shravasti, Bahraich, Moradabad, Lakhimpur Kheri, Dharaura and Bijnor. The SP has already declared candidates on some of the seats that Congress is eyeing. These include Farrukhabad, Lakhimpur Kheri, Dharaura and Lucknow. Farrukhabad is seen as the domain of senior Congressman Salman Khurshid who has won the Lok Sabha elections from the seat in 1991. There were speculations that Congress will opt for Kheri seat to field Ravi Verma – the three-time SP MP who sided with the grand old party in 2023. The SP has fielded Naval Kishore Shakya from Farrukhabad and Utkarsh Verma (Kheri). Similarly, SP has fielded former MP Anand Bhadauriya from Dharaura.
Talks between SP and Congress have been on the backburner for quite some time with SP pointing fingers at the grand old party for the delay in finalizing the seat-sharing talks. According to sources, it has been a month since the two sides have had a meeting in person to discuss the alliance. Thereafter the two sides sent a letter each – one sent by Congress MP Mukul Wasnik who is the convenor of a committee constituted by the Congress to discuss alliances and another sent out by SP secretary general Ram Gopal Yadav. Wasnik’s letter was accompanied by a list of seats that Congress wanted, and the SP’s reply had reservations over sparing some of these seats for the alliance partner.
“Our party chief is keen on an alliance with the Congress for polls. He agreed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand of 17 seats and the party has sent a list of these seats to the Congress,” said SP national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary. Salman Khurshid, who is part of the Congress’s five-member National Alliance committee, has also maintained a similar position, according to sources. He said both sides were trying to analyse the best possible scenario for them and that such an exercise takes time.
Sources privy to the negotiations said it was not about the count of seats but specific seats that the Congress wants. Most of these seats are the ones which SP had won either in Lok Sabha polls or have performed exceptionally well in most of these seats’ assembly segments not only in 2022 but earlier as well.
“To be more specific, most of the seats that Congress wants have a Muslim-Yadav winning combination. How can we spare these seats for the alliance partners?” said a senior SP leader. The SP leadership had also sought names of candidates that the Congress plans to field on seats that they have asked for to help assess winnability factor of every constituency. But the Congress has not provided names of candidates for these seats, sources said.
Uncomfortable by the stance of the SP, Congress insisted that the winnability quotient of the seats that SP had offered was very low in the present political scenario. Hence, there was no reason for the party to agree to such a formula. “How can the performance of a party be decided on the results of previous elections which had many variables? SP contested 2019 elections with BSP as alliance partner, we went alone. This time both will contest independently. How can you compare?” said a senior Congress functionary.
The SP list of 17 seats includes Amroha, Deoria and Barabanki while the Congress has asked for Shravasti, Bahraich, Moradabad, Lakhimpur Kheri, Dharaura and Bijnor. The SP has already declared candidates on some of the seats that Congress is eyeing. These include Farrukhabad, Lakhimpur Kheri, Dharaura and Lucknow. Farrukhabad is seen as the domain of senior Congressman Salman Khurshid who has won the Lok Sabha elections from the seat in 1991. There were speculations that Congress will opt for Kheri seat to field Ravi Verma – the three-time SP MP who sided with the grand old party in 2023. The SP has fielded Naval Kishore Shakya from Farrukhabad and Utkarsh Verma (Kheri). Similarly, SP has fielded former MP Anand Bhadauriya from Dharaura.