Samajwadi Party not ready to agree to Congress's inflated demand in the state
By Pradeep Kapoor
Being the main opposition party in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav is on the driving seat of INDI Alliance. Much significance is being attached to the statement of Akhilesh Yadav that INDI Alliance got more strength after recent assembly polls.
Irrespective of poor performance in assembly polls by the Congress, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has launched an attack on BJP governments at the centre and state for all round failure. Akhilesh Yadav repeatedly attacked BJP governments for problems being faced by all sections of society. He also blamed BJP governments for failure on economic front.
Samajwadi Party national president, who is keen to expand his Party in other states, claimed that his PDA (Pichda Dalit and alpsankhayak) will defeat NDA in all the 80 seats in UP. Akhilesh Yadav is under tremendous pressure from the powerful Muslim community to resolve the differences with Congress Party for a respectable seat adjustment for Lok Sabha polls.
For Lok Sabha polls, Muslim community is also looking toward Congress and appreciate Rahul Gandhi for his bold and aggressive attitude against communalism. At the same time there is also realisation that Congress leader Kamal Nath should not have used derogatory remarks, against former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav over the issue of seat adjustment.
Had Kamal Nath behaved in a responsible manner, Akhilesh Yadav would not have made it a prestige issue and put up 70 candidates in Madhya Pradesh and addressed 22 rallies including road shows. The SP president mobilized all resources to put up a good show.
But Akhilesh Yadav miserably failed as his party could get only less than one per cent votes. At the same time Samajwadi Party was instrumental in causing defeat of Congress in four seats leading to BJP victory as a result of division of ant-BJP votes.
Now in UP, the seat sharing among INDIA parties would be the most difficult task before the leadership. Samajwadi Party has already announced its intention to contest 65 seats out of the total of 80 to play an important role at national level, leaving 15 for other parties including alliance partners and Congress.
Irrespective of fact that Samajwadi Party got five seats in Lok Sabha in 2014LokSabha polls and also in 2019 polls Akhilesh Yadav wants to bargain on it's strength as it increased its vote share and secured more than 100 seats in UP Assembly in 2022 elections.. Out of five seats won in 2019, Samajwadi Party lost prestigious seats Rampur and Azamgarh in by-elections. So SP's effective strength in Lok Sabha before the 2024 polls is only three.
On the other hand, Congress leadership is also working on expanding the base of the Party by inducting muslim and dalit leaders and workers from different parties. Though Congress got only one seat in Lok Sabha and vote share reduced to only two percent, the leadership may look for more seats. Some sources estimate it at 20 which the SP will never agree to
Similar case is with alliance partner RLD having good presence in jat dominated western UP. Jayant Choudhry national president of RLD and grandson of former prime minister late Charan Singh is also looking for a good number of seats to contest.
It is testing time for former Chief Minister national president of Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav to accommodate smaller parties in seat sharing for crucial Lok Sabha polls.
(IPA Service)
