A day after the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) opted out of a prospective anti-BJP grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the talks between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party hit a serious roadblock on Friday on the issue of seat sharing.
The SP announced its list of candidates, even for seats where the Congress has sitting MLAs with just three days left for filing nominations for the first phase of polling for 73 seats. While it seemed that the two parties were ready to officially announce their alliance, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav’s missive on Friday morning caught the Congress by surprise, sending its leadership into a huddle. Mr. Yadav had sent a list of 191 candidates (covering the first three phases), following it up with another list of 18 candidates (from the fifth phase).
The SP list included 10 seats currently held by the Congress, with some considered its strongholds. These include Syana and Khurja in Bulandshahr, Mathura and Bilsapur in Rampur, Gangoh and Deoband in Saharanpur (a belt where the Congress leader Imran Masood has substantial clout), the reserved seat Hapur, Shamli, Prayagpur in Bahraich and Kidwai Nagar in Kanpur.
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In Deoband, the Congress MLA Maviya Ali defected to SP and is now nominated on its ticket. Pradeep Mathura ,Congress MLA from Mathura, is the party’s leader in the Assembly.
If snubbing the Congress on key seats was an indication that Akhilesh Yadav was not willing to give the Congress an inch, the assertion was underlined when his deputy and SP vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda announced that the Congress deserved no more than 54 seats. Through negotiation, the figure could be increased by 25-30 more, Mr. Nanda said. The figure was reached after analyzing the results of 2012, he said.
The Congress is demanding at least 100 seats in the 403-member Assembly.
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The SP is not even willing to concede to the Congress its seats in the Nehru-Gandhi pocket boroughs Amethi and Rae Bareli. “The SP will contest on all seats in Amethi (five) and four out of five in Rae Bareli... They should fight where they can win. To defeat BJP is SP’s number one target,” Mr Nanda said, adding there there was no “positive response” to the party's proposal from the Congress end.
The SP would also released its election manifesto on Monday and Akhilesh Yadav would then launch his campaign. “Our slogan will be Netaji ka naam, Akhilesh ka kaam,” he said.
Stunned by the cold-shoulder, the Congress described the events as “unfortunate” as it was forced to go back to the drawing board. “Any agreement should be honoured. We will call him [Akhilesh Yadav] again,” Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said, adding that the status would be clear after the party’s general secretary in-charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad met with Akhilesh Yadav.
Congress UP president Raj Babbar rushed to Lucknow and asserted that “our leadership would not enter into alliance at the cost of party workers’ honour.”
Shivpal in list
Meanwhile the SP’s list included Mr Akhilesh’s Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav from his traditional seat Jaswant Nagar in Etawah and the CM’s aide Atul Pradhan (Meerut) and Minister Arvind Kumar Singh Gope (Ramnagar, Barabanki). Significantly, the list replaced controversial former Allahadad MP Ateeq Ahmed on the Kanpur Cantonment seat bringing in Rumi Hasan.
There were also signs of disagreement within the SP as after releasing the list it replaced candidates on two seats ( Etmadpur, Agra and Nagina, Bijnore) and cancelled tickets for Bareilly Sadar and Bareilly Cantonment seats, without any explanation. The party also faced trouble on the Ramnagar seat as Rakesh Verma, the son of veteran Beni Prasad Verma, continued to stake his claim over it despite being granted the Kaiserganj seat. Akhilesh aide Arvind Kumar Singh Gope is the candidate from Ramanagar.