Lok Sabha probes seat-sharing talks between Gehlot and Akhilesh: Congress
Chaudhary also said that the party’s top leadership is in constant touch with the Congress Photo: PTI
The Congress on Saturday said that constructive seat-sharing talks are taking place between party leader Ashok Gehlot and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and will inform when a formula has been finalized.
The Congress’s claim came soon after Yadav said his party’s alliance with the Congress is “off to a good start” with 11 “strong” Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The state sends 80 members to the House of Representatives and elections will be held in April-May.
Asked about Yadav’s comments at a press conference, Ramesh said Gehlot is in direct touch with the SP chief and the talks are taking place in a positive and constructive manner.
“When a seat-sharing formula is finalized, we will inform you. But today Akhilesh ji has spoken about this that talks are going on and he is happy with the talks. From my party’s side, I would say that talks are going on between Ashok Gehlot and Akhilesh Yadav ji and they will meet soon,” Ramesh said.
The seat-sharing pact that will emerge will be beneficial to the Congress, the SP and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), he claimed.
When asked if the seat allocation is not yet final, Ramesh said: “It will not be final until it is final.”
Ramesh’s comments came minutes after Yadav said in a post in Hindi on X: “Our cordial alliance with Congress is off to a good start with 11 strong seats. This trend will continue to develop with the winning equation. The ‘PDA’ strategy will change history.”
Elaborating on the developments, SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI, “We (Samajwadi Party) have offered them (Congress) 11 seats so that there is respectable mutual coordination between us and we defeat the BJP.”
Chaudhary also said that the party’s top leadership is in constant touch with the Congress.
He said the number of seats on offer, which now stands at 11, is unlikely to increase in the future.
“We have given 11 seats to the Congress (in UP) and seven seats to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). This amounts to 18 seats. The SP will contest 62 seats in the Lok Sabha elections,” the SP chief spokesperson said. .
In the current Lok Sabha, the Samajwadi Party has three MPs and the Bahujan Samaj Party has 10 MPs. Sonia Gandhi is the only Congress member from the state representing Rae Bareli constituency. The Apna Dal (Sonelal) has two MPs. The BJP has 64 MPs from the state.
Earlier, on January 19, the SP and RLD announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha elections, with the latter saying the other party will retain seven seats in western Uttar Pradesh for its nominees.
Saturday’s development comes amid strong indications that Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s chief minister and JD(U) president, might take another U-turn and return to the BJP-led NDA.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: January 27, 2024 | 7:13 PM IST