With INDIA meeting stand, Akhilesh furthers distance from Congress

Instead of Akhilesh, the SP had said party national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav would attend the December 6 INDIA meeting.

Speaking at a Bharat24 event Tuesday, Akhilesh again mentioned the spat with the Congress over the Madhya Pradesh polls seat-sharing. While claiming that the results will “strengthen the INDIA alliance more” as people’s expectations will increase from it, the SP chief: “There is no pressure on leaders like me. The results that have come recently should be a subject of worry for the BJP. People might say, ‘What am I saying?’. But the recent results should be a subject of worry for the BJP because the people’s mood is of change… And if in one state, the Congress had not behaved the way it did, there would have been change there too.”

PDA ही NDA को हरायेगा

PDA सामाजिक आंदोलन है… सामाजिक न्याय का संघर्ष है। pic.twitter.com/lxpRTVz7ee

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) December 5, 2023

A senior SP leader said: “There is anger with the Congress over what happened in the state. Now, the results have made us realise that an alliance with the Congress in UP will not benefit us.”

Congress Madhya Pradesh chief Kamal Nath’s remarks when asked about the SP chief, saying “Forget this Akhilesh, Vakhilesh”, reflected the Congress’s “arrogance”, SP leaders said.

A senior SP leader was more harsh, saying: “They disrespected our national president, while allying with them in UP will have no benefit for us. The Congress has a habit of overestimating itself. They have no vote base in UP, which became clear in the state polls last year, when they won just 2 seats out of the 403 they contested. The SP is the main Opposition party in UP, and it will benefit us more to contest alone.”

Incidentally, the Madhya Pradesh Congress too had stonewalled SP demands in the state using the same logic, saying that the party did not have any base in the state and would only hurt the Congress by staying on.

Ultimately, the SP did not win any of the 71 seats it contested in MP. Overall its vote share fell from 1.3% in 2018 to 0.46%. So few votes did the SP get that in only 5 seats did its total with the Congress add up to more than the votes received by the BJP.

The Congress was left equally smarting over the fact that Akhilesh himself took charge of the Madhya Pradesh campaign and addressed 24 public rallies across 20 Assembly seats, besides leading “rath yatras” in three others – the first time the SP had allocated so much time and resources in an election outside UP.

In his campaign speeches too, Akhilesh spoke against the Congress.

With the latest development, the chances of any amicable arrangement before the Lok Sabha elections between the two parties appear difficult.

Incidentally, not everyone in the SP is on the same page over the aggressive stance Akhilesh took vis-a-vis the Congress. Many leaders are questioning the party’s decision to contest so many seats in Madhya Pradesh, in the hope of increasing the party’s footprint outside UP, given the bleak chance of any success.

“What was the point of contesting so many seats in a state where we are not very strong? All those rallies could have been held in UP, where we would see direct benefits in next year’s Lok Sabha polls,” an SP MLA said.