Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow: Whilethe Congress brass is yet to discuss alliance and seat-sharing modalities with the Samajwadi Party more than a month after its MPs endorsed an early poll pact, the SP leadership has started preparations on all 403 seats for the UP Assembly polls. Cautious not to send any wrong signals, SP may not have formally released any list of candidates so far, but sources said the party leadership has finalised names of candidates on over 100 seats and processing of applications from aspirants was underway for the remaining 303 seats. Political observers claim that SP had adopted the same approach in the 2022 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections where process for finalising the names of candidates began a year in advance but the first list of candidates was released barely a few months before the polls. Interestingly, though Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly maintained said that SP will contest 2027 polls in alliance with INDIA bloc partners with whom it contested the 2024 LS polls (thereby meaning the Congress), none in the Congress leadership – be it Rahul Gandhi or party chief Mallikarjuan Kharge – have made any explicit formal announcement on this so far. The last that Congress brass is known to have discussed UP polls was in Aug first week when Rahul Gandhi reportedly chaired a meeting of party MPs from UP in Delhi for their views on 2027 Assembly elections. For 2017 polls, similar delay and uncertainty was noticeable when the SP and Congress came together for the first time. Finally, SP contested on 298 seats and Congress on 105 seats. However despite the alliance SP and Congress candidates found themselves pitted against each other on over 12 seats. A similar situation prevailed before the 2024 LS polls too. Congress did not discuss seat-sharing with SP till two months before the first phase of polling was to be held on April 19. It was on Feb 21, 2024, that the two held a joint press conference to announce that Congress will contest on 17 of the 80 seats in UP. Political experts believe that now if the Congress opts out for reasons whatsoever, the public perception will prevail in favour of Akhilesh for showing the eagerness to take on the BJP together, like the two parties did in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In 2023 Madhya Pradesh polls, seat-sharing talks between the two collapsed due to communication breakdowns, conflicting claims over specific constituencies, and the unilateral announcement of candidates by both parties.
Sources said the MPs expressed a unanimous view that there should be an alliance with SP, and that it should be clinched quickly. SP strategists claim the party leadership is in no hurry and finalising names early is a part of the strategy to allow the candidates sufficient time to prepare before they hit the ground running. This is not the first time that there is confusion and uncertainty over seat sharing talks between the two parties. In the political circles, Akhilesh making the first move to announce the party’s willingness for an alliance with the Congress was being seen as an intelligent posturing which automatically shifts the onus of taking the alliance forward on the Congress.