UP polls: Congress wants 3 seats, upset over Samajwadi Party’s offer of 2 seats, say sources

The Congress is not happy with the Samajwadi Party’s offer to give two seats to the grand old party for the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and has sought a third seat to contest, sources told India Today TV.

The Samajwadi Party offered the Ghaziabad and Khair (Aligarh) seats to the Congress, while also announcing its candidate for the Phulpur seat, which the Congress still has a claim on.

According to sources, seat sharing for the UP polls was discussed in the informal talks between Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the swearing-in ceremony of Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar on Wednesday.

Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey, state party chief Ajay Rai and party leader Aradhana Mishra are in touch with Samajwadi Party leaders, but the Akhilesh Yadav-led party is unlikely to give more than two seats , sources said.

The development comes even as the Congress faces pressure from its allies, including the Samajwadi Party, to redesign its strategy in future elections, following the party’s debacle in Haryana and its failure to make inroads in the Jammu region.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav has started campaigning for his party’s candidates in Maharashtra, with elections due, without finalizing the seat-sharing agreement.

There is a big buzz that the Gandhi family argued with Akhilesh Yadav over the Phulpur seat. Mustafa Siddiqui, who lost the last elections, was chosen by the Samajwadi Party from this constituency.

On Thursday, the Samajwadi Party announced Sumbul Rana as its candidate from the Meerapur seat.

According to Congress sources, the party leadership may soon have final talks with Akhilesh Yadav on seat-sharing in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections.

Bypolls will be held for 9 Assembly seats on November 13 – Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur town), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).

All nine seats fell vacant after their MLAs were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha polls, while bypolls are being held in the Sisamau seat due to the disqualification of Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.

Vote counting will take place on November 20. The Election Commission is yet to announce by-polls for the Milkipur seat due to an election petition pending in court.

The Samajwadi Party and Congress contested together in the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls. The alliance performed impressively, winning 43 of the 80 parliamentary constituencies. The Akhilesh Yadav-led party emerged as the largest party with 37 seats, while the Congress won six.

(with information from PTI)