Losing 2022 rainbow alliance with OBC parties, SP falls back on Congress for 2024

Currently, the SP is in an alliance with only the Congress in UP. As per their seat-sharing agreement, the SP is contesting on 63 seats, while the Congress will be in the fray from 17 seats.

In the 2022 Assembly polls, the SP had an umbrella alliance with different regional parties claiming to have influence over OBC voters — the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Janvadi Socialist Party (now named Jan Janvadi Party), Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), and Mahan Dal.

Of the state’s 403 seats, the SP won 111 seats with 32% vote share, while the RLD got 8 and the SBSP got 6. The other parties in the alliance did not win any seat.The BJP won the elections, bagging 255 seats with 41.29% votes.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, when it had not allied with these parties but was in partnership with the Congress, the SP had won 47 seats with 21.82% votes, while the Congress had got 7 seats. The BJP had swept the polls bagging 312 seats with 39.67% votes.

The SP suffered a major blow this time when the Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD, which has a base among Jats in western UP, crossed over to the BJP-led NDA in February.

The SBSP joined the NDA last year. Right after the 2022 Assembly polls, SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar had started criticising SP president Akhilesh Yadav. In the 2022 Presidential election, the SBSP MLAs cross-voted in support of the NDA’s nominee Droupadi Murmu.

Meanwhile, the Jan Janvadi Party and Apna Dal (K), a splinter group of Apna Dal founded by late Kurmi leader Sonelal Patel, also parted ways with the SP, deciding to contest the Lok Sabha elections alone after their seat-sharing talks fell through.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary says these smaller parties “do not matter” to the party. “They have no base. Each of them were demanding 3 to 5 Lok Sabha seats…It was not possible to give them these seats. These parties come and leave when their self-interests are not fulfilled. Their move will not cause any damage to us,” he claimed.

However, Apna Dal (K) leader Pallavi Patel, who was elected as the MLA from Sirathu in 2022 on SP ticket, blames the SP’s “betrayal” for their break-up. She claims the SP itself announced that there would be no alliance.

\In fact, Apna Dal (K) president Krishna Patel on March 20 had announced that the party would contest on three Lok Sabha seats — Phulpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi — as part of the INDIA alliance. A day later, Akhilesh had hinted at the end of his party’s alliance with the outfit, saying their alliance was for the 2022 Assembly polls and not for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Jan Janvadi Party has decided to contest alone on 30 Lok Sabha seats and has already announced candidates on 14 seats in eastern UP, including Azamgarh where Akhilesh’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav is contesting.

The Jan Janvadi Party’s president Sanjay Chauhan will contest from Ghosi. The SP was keen on fielding senior party leader Rajeev Rai from the seat.

“Ghosi is dominated by members of the Chouhan community. But the SP fielded another candidate there. SP asked me to look for an alternative seat,” Chauhan said. He adds that by breaking up with the smaller parties, the SP was “giving a chance to the BJP”. “He (Akhilesh) is not fighting with the BJP but us. He is not taking along leaders of the PDA – Pichde Dalit Alpsankhyak (backwards, Dalits and minorities), the main pitch of the SP.”

Chouhan’s party had an alliance with the SP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when he had contested from Chandauli on the SP symbol. He lost the election with a narrow margin of 13,959 votes.

Mahan Dal president Keshav Dev Maurya, whose party has a base among the OBC groups such as Shakyas, Sainis, Kushwahsa and Mauryas, had demanded two seats from the SP, which was denied. He approached the BSP, which also denied him the seats. Later, Maurya decided that his party would support the SP on the seats it was contesting.

“I was demanding only two seats. Both (SP and BSP) did not share seats with me. Since we had an earlier alliance with Akhilesh ji, we will support him. But we will support the BSP where the Congress is contesting,” Maurya said.

The Mahan Dal had an alliance with the Congress in the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. There were talks between them for the 2019 polls, but it did not result in an alliance. Mahan Dal then extended support to the BJP.

Meanwhile, the SP’s talks with the Azad Samaj Party (ASP-Kanshiram) led by Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Aazad also failed, with the ASP now contesting solo in UP.

In December 2022 Assembly bypolls, the SP, RLD and ASP had contested the Khatauli and Rampur seats together. Their alliance was able to wrest Khatauli from the BJP, with the sizeable Dalit voters in the constituency rallying behind Aazad.

Aazad, who has significant influence over Dalits in western UP, had demanded the Nagina (SC-reserved) seat from the SP to contest himself, but to no avail. “SP offered us Agra and Bulandshahr instead of Nagina. We did not agree and decided to contest solo,” said an ASP-Kanshiram leader.

However, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, “There was no discussion in the party about giving a seat to Chandrashekhar Aazad. He used to be with Jayant Chaudhary (RLD president) only. He had nothing to do with the SP.”