Lucknow, Jan 28 Amidst the ongoing political turmoil in Bihar, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has offered 11 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for upcoming polls.
Political experts say that after pressure from regional parties in West Bengal, Punjab, and Bihar, Congress is now being forced to play the role of “younger brother” in states.
They say that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s announcement to contest the Lok Sabha elections in coalition with the Congress came at a time when the INDIA bloc allies in West Bengal, Punjab, and Haryana have announced to contest polls separately.
“Congress is a very old party and it should have the right to take decisions in the INDIA bloc,” a senior Congress leader said.
“If the party contests elections on only 11 seats (in Uttar Pradesh), what will happen to our workers? The party should contest elections on at least half of the (out of 80) seats. The role of Congress should be like that of an elder brother as it is a national party,” he opined.
Senior political analyst Virendra Singh Rawat says that the announcement by INDIA bloc allies in West Bengal, Punjab, and Haryana to contest polls separately will definitely be felt in Uttar Pradesh. Probably, this might be the reason why the 11-seat formula has been floated. However, it is not yet decided on how many seats the Congress will contest.
“Only Congress leaders can clear the picture. But they are avoiding speaking over the issue right now,” he adds.
“The Samajwadi Party seems to be leading here. First, it decided to give seven seats to RLD. And now, has offered 11 seats to the Congress. After the formation of the INDIA bloc, finalizing a seat-sharing formula seems to be a major challenge for Congress. Also, the ongoing political developments in many states have pushed the Congress on the backfoot” says Rawat.
Allies also seem to be unhappy with Rahul Gandhi's decision to take out a yatra at the time of making election strategy.
At present, almost all the regional parties are putting pressure on Congress. Apart from this, the SP has kept the option of forging alliances with small parties at the local level, he adds.
Another political analyst Ratanmani Lal says that the situation has become more challenging for the Congress after the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab and Haryana have decided to go solo to the polls in their respective states.
To ensure that more parties not be left out, the Congress has announced an alliance with the SP in Uttar Pradesh. In other states as well, the grand old party will be seen compromising on seats.
Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai said that talks are still going on and the party’s national committee will take the decision on seat sharing.
Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi says that in the first meeting of the INDIA bloc itself, it was decided that “our objective is to save the Constitution and the rights of the common man. In such a situation, being the main opposition party, the responsibility of Congress to protect the rights of the people increases further”.
Seat-wise discussion by the coordination committee is underway. Currently, 11 seats have been cleared. We will make the announcement once the discussion on the remaining seats is made.
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