Congress, SP to set up coordination panel

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party will start formal talks on a pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the next Lok Sabha elections this week.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party will start formal talks on a pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the next Lok Sabha elections this week. The ruling party at the Centre is also learnt to be in favour of initiating a dialogue with the RLD8217;s Ajit Singh, now that he stands isolated after being rebuffed by the Bahujan Samaj Party BSP.

The Congress and the SP are also set to have a six-member Coordination Committee on the lines of the UPA-Left body. The committee is likely to include four members from the Congress, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony, and two members from the SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.

The decision to start formal talks on seat sharing arrangements with the SP was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, party sources said.

They said AICC general secretary in-charge of UP Digvijay Singh, PCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and SP leader Amar Singh were slated to meet in the next few days to formalise a pre-poll alliance. This meeting will be held at some 8220;secluded place8221; in Delhi, away from public glare, sources added.

It will be the first time since the SP extended support to the UPA during the Vote of Confidence in the Lok Sabha on July 22 that the two parties will have concrete talks on seat-sharing.

While the Congress has finalised its candidates for 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the SP is unlikely to concede that many seats. The Congress, however, hopes to secure at least 25 seats for exchange of which it might have seat adjustments with the SP in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Bihar, said sources. They added that in case the two sides do not have any agreement on some seats in UP, there could be 8220;friendly fights8221; on those seats.

Congress sources pointed out that delimitation of constituencies has changed equations on the ground on many seats in UP and therefore, 8220;we have to see which of the two parties has the best candidates on them8221;.

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The scheduled talks between the SP and the Congress on a pre-poll alliance are set to end all speculation about the future of the relationship between the two parties.