Despite meeting twice, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have failed to finalise their seat-sharing arrangement in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections. Another meeting is scheduled on September 8.
Congress sources suggest hard bargaining by both the sides. The SP had 39 MPs in the last Lok Sabha elections. This time it wants to retain these and also contest the seats where its candidates were runners-up the last time. The Congress is jittery as its many prominent leaders will lose their seats if this arrangement is reached.
Salman Khurshid, Noor Banu, Bhola Pande and Sudha Rai will face the axe as they had lost to SP candidates in 2004. Khurshid lost from Farukkhabad while Noor Banu lost to Jayaprada in Rampur. AICC Secretary Bhola Pande (Salimpur) and Sudha Rai (Ghosi) will also have to change their constituencies.
Congress sources say the SP is not willing to offer more than 15 seats given their party’s previous performance. The Congress, however, has sought at least 30 seats saying the delimitation has changed the profiles of the constituencies.
The meetings between the two parties was attended by SP General Secretary Amar Singh, besides Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi. “We have finalised the names of the candidates on most of the seats.
Talks are going on for other seats. The attitude of both the parties is that we should fight together,” said AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who was a part of the talks.
Top Congress leaders, however, feel the party will not be able to get the SP to offer more seats.
“We should be happy if they give us 20 seats,” says a top leader.
The two sides are keeping the option open to later include Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). “We will consider the option. But the RLD has to first decide if it wants to be with Mayawati or us,” said Digvijay Singh.
