Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that his party will take part in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the finalisation of seat-sharing talks in Uttar Pradesh with the grand old party for the Lok Sabha election.
“Right now, talks are going on. Many rounds of talks have happened and lists of candidates have been exchanged. The moment seat distribution is finalised, the Samajwadi Party will join their [Congress’s] Nyay Yatra,” Mr. Yadav told reporters.
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The SP chief’s comment comes even as Congress U.P. in-charge Avinash Pande on Sunday reached out to Bahujan Samaj Party, saying the doors of Opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) are “open” for the party and it is up to BSP chief Mayawati to decide whether she wants to join a united fight against the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress’s offer was strongly rebutted by the BSP with Ms. Mayawati, a former Chief Minister, putting out a social media post on X: “Despite the BSP’s repeated declarations that it will not forge an alliance with any party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, rumors about an alliance are being spread every day. This proves that without the BSP, some parties are not going to fare well.”
After months of hectic negotiations, the SP offered 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress to contest in U.P. and the SP attendance in the yatra that will enter Raebareli, the only seat that the grand old party won in the 2019 general election, on Tuesday depends on the acceptance.
Offering 17 seats
“The SP gave a final offer of 17 parliamentary segments to them [Congress]. Discussions are going on and we are waiting for their decision,” SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told The Hindu. Earlier, the SP offered 11 seats to the Congress, which was vehemently opposed by the State Congress leadership. The U.P. unit of the Congress is pushing for at least 21 seats.
The recent stand on attending the yatra is contrary to the statement made earlier this month when the SP confirmed the participation of Mr. Yadav in the yatra in Amethi or Raebareli.
“Our national president Akhilesh Yadav received an invitation from Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra of Rahul Gandhi. Mr. Yadav, while congratulating the Congress accepted the invitation for the yatra which will enter U.P. on February 16 and likely to participate when it reaches Amethi or Raebareli,” a statement from the SP had read.
Latest list
In a related development to the election, the SP on Monday declared candidates for 11 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general election, including an incumbent MP of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The party fielded Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari as its candidate from the same seat, while former MP Harendra Malik was given a ticket from Muzaffarnagar. Shreya Verma from Gonda, Ramesh Gautam from Bahraich, Usha Verma from Hardoi, Rajesh Kashyap from Shahjahanpur, S.P. Singh Patel from Pratapgarh, R.K. Chaudhary from Mohanlalganj, Virendra Singh from Chandauli, Neeraj Maurya from Aonla and Rampal Rajvanshi from Mishrikh were also named in the list.
With this, the SP has so far named 27 candidates for the upcoming election. Uttar Pradesh has a total of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Parliament.
