Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress’ Rahul Gandhi (File).
New Delhi:
The fallout of the Congress’ poor present within the Haryana election – which has included a stinging assault from ally Shiv Sena (UBT) earlier than the Maharashtra election – rumbled on Tuesday, with the Samajwadi Party snubbing a seat-share request for by-polls to 10 Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats later this yr.
Akhilesh Yadav’s social gathering – a high-profile member of the Congress-led INDIA bloc – has named candidates for six of the ten seats. The quantity is critical – the Congress needed to contest 5 of the seats, however the SP demurred, pointing to the 2 events’ performances within the April-June normal election.
The SP received 37 of 62 seats it contested. The Congress contested 17 and received six. Given these numbers (the Congress additionally scored 109 fewer than the SP within the 2022 state ballot) the supply was solely three seats.
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) October 9, 2024
The Congress has expressed shock over the listing of six names.
The social gathering’s state-in-charge Avinash Pandey, mentioned, “It is true… no info was given and there was no talks with the INDIA alliance coordination committee but. But, so far as announcement of seats and contesting elections is worried, no matter resolution the committee takes will probably be accepted by us.”
“We usually are not overconfident in Uttar Pradesh,” he mentioned, stating work to “strengthen and empower the organisation” and prep for the by-polls had begun. “Possibilities (of alliance) at all times stay…”
#WATCH | Kanpur: On Samajwadi Party releasing names of 6 candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh meeting bypolls, UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey says, “…It is true, no info was given to us about it. There has been no dialogue with the coordination committee of… pic.twitter.com/0G1xXhg0DB
— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2024
The Samajwadi Party releasing its listing of six candidates now – for a by-poll that has not but been introduced by the Election Commission – listing does not simply comply with the Congress’ horrid time in Haryana.
In Haryana the 2 events held talks over sharing of seats – as did the Congress with Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP – however no settlement was reached in both case, with the Congress’ Bhupinder Hooda being blamed.
That failure to accommodate, because the Sena known as it, is broadly perceived as one of many causes for the Congress dropping a state that exit polls unanimously predicted it might win.
READ | “Arrogant, Overconfident”: Allies Slam Congress Over Haryana Loss
But the 2 have been locked in talks over the UP by-polls for a while, underlining the rifts inside an INDIA bloc that, in lots of circumstances, has didn’t persuade as a viable and sustainable non-BJP different.
The 10 UP by-polls, due to this fact, are a litmus check, at the least for the Congress to proceed as INDIA head.
The BJP has already begun planning, keen to say as many of those seats as doable (not that it wants them to keep up its maintain on the federal government) to construct on momentum from Haryana.
There are nonetheless two Assembly elections left this yr – Maharashtra and Jharkhand – with the all-important Delhi ballot, the place Mr Kejriwal’s AAP will bid for a fourth straight win, scheduled for early subsequent.
The SP’s snub, in the meantime, has additionally been seen as a reminder of the Congress refusing to share seats for the Madhya Pradesh election. “… appears Congress does not need to associate with us”, Mr Yadav had mentioned.
As it did in Haryana this month, the SP then fielded its personal candidates in Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress can be defeated in Madhya Pradesh and watch because the BJP flipped Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, dropping three heartlands states in go to inviting scathing criticism from Mr Yadav.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee additionally attacked the Congress. Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool additionally had seat-sharing disputes with the Congress – earlier than the April-June normal election. With a watch on poor previous performances, she wouldn’t give up greater than two of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats to her ‘ally’.
READ | “Defeat Of Congress, Not The People”: Mamata On BJP’s 3-State Win
The Bengal Chief Minister had mentioned then that whereas the Congress had certainly received Telangana, it may have swept the opposite two states “if not for votes being taken by INDIA events”.
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