The alliance between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress in Uttar Pradesh has had a tumultuous journey since the two parties came together in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. After some early signs of tension in October 2023 before the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, which the two parties contested separately, they pulled off a surprise performance in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 43 seats together in UP, relegating the BJP to far behind. But since then, too, the ties between the two parties have soured; they failed to come together in the Haryana Assembly elections in October 2024, and then in the Delhi Assembly polls in February this year.
Among the winners of the alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was Congress MP from Saharanpur Imran Masood, who rekindled tensions in the INDIA bloc in UP after he publicly said that ties between the two parties “need to be reset” before the 2027 Assembly polls. Masood, a senior Congress leader, speaks to The Indian Express about the future of the alliance. Excerpts:
* The alliance between the SP and Congress has seen several rounds of tensions and allegations from both sides. Why do we keep seeing issues between the parties?
There is no issue. The Congress is working to strengthen its organisation and we are building it till the booth level. Some people have given statements that we (the Congress) won’t have candidates. I would like to say that we are working hard on the ground and we don’t need crutches. We will fight on our own and if there is an understanding, it will be one of respect. We won’t let them (the SP) decide what seats we contest. We will decide if an understanding can be reached. And the decision has to be made by the party leadership. It is my job to secure the rights of the Congress workers and leaders. They also have hopes and aspirations.
* Could you clarify what you have said about the alliance between the SP and Congress going forward?
I have said that the 80-17 formula won’t work, which means that in the Parliamentary elections, we were given 17 seats (of UP’s total 80 Lok Sabha seats). This won’t work. The votes were cast in Rahul Gandhi’s name. There are favourable conditions in Rahul ji’s name. I have said that if there is an understanding, it will have to be respectable.
* How many seats do you think the Congress should contest in the 2027 UP Assembly elections as part of an alliance with the SP?
We are preparing on all 403 seats. If there is an understanding, it should be equal. They shouldn’t say, ‘We are leaving these seats for you’… This decision will be made by the Congress leadership. We are not asking the SP for anything.
* The Congress sat out of the bypolls in UP for nine Assembly seats soon after the Lok Sabha elections, ostensibly because it didn’t get four constituencies which it had wanted? Why did the party compromise?
This is what I am talking about… because they (the SP) told us we can contest these seats. Why are you deciding for us? You won’t decide. If we are allies, we will decide our seats…
There are a lot of internal things I shouldn’t say outside. But I will repeat – they won’t decide our seats (now). They offer us seats where we will lose. Hence, we left the bypoll seats… The Congress is facing harm because of the alliance. See, the BJP eats up its allies. On the other hand, our allies eat us up.
* In UP, the Congress is considered second to the SP in the Opposition. We saw it in Lok Sabha elections, and then in the bypolls. Why is this so?
The conditions in UP… they are such that the Congress has been out of power for three decades. We are trying to get back to power. We are working towards it. My pain is the pain of the workers. This is not personal. The workers who work hard through the year, they suffer.
* Do you think the BJP will gain if the Congress and SP contest separately? The Muslim vote will likely split.
This is not true. People understand… that if there is anyone who can fight the BJP today, it is Rahul Gandhi. There is no one else. I will say this that when there is a storm at sea, it is faced by ships and not small boats. And there is a political storm in the country right now. Hence, I say everyone should get on board the Congress. It is the only party that can never go with the BJP.
