Lucknow, Jan 27 Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav announced on Saturday that the Congress will contest 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, sources said that Congress has not agreed to this formula.
“Our cordial alliance with the Congress is off to a good start with 11 strong seats. This trend will move forward with the winning equation. 'INDIA' team and 'PDA' strategy will change history,” Akhilesh said in a post on X.
As per sources, the Congress leadership in the state has not accepted the deal, saying that the decision is Akhilesh Yadav’s, and not Congress'.
Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the highest in the country. In the 2019 elections, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) had won 62 of the 80 seats, the SP-BSP alliance won 15 seats, while the Congress could only win one seat.
Party sources had earlier said that Congress is keen to contest more seats in the Lok Sabha polls this time.
Following reports of Congress leaders rejecting the 11-seat alliance, Samajwadi Party issued a clarification, stating that it was a proposal and could be increased if Congress informs Akhilesh Yadav about candidates who could win more seats.
Notably, earlier, Akhilesh Yadav had blamed the Congress for the ongoing fissures within the INDIA bloc and said that the enthusiasm the party needed to show in discussing and engaging with alliance partners was not visible.
"Congress should have come forward. The enthusiasm that Congress needed to show in discussing and engaging with the INDIA bloc was missing," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav’s seat sharing announcement came just a few days after the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab rejected the alliance with Congress in their respective state for the 2024 polls.
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