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The Congress on Sunday decided to leave seven Parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance. Earlier, the alliance had announced that it would not field candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi seats, represented by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, respectively.
State Congress president Raj Babbar told reporters, “The Congress is leaving seven Lok Sabha seats in the state for the SP, BSP and RLD alliance. These include Mainpuri, Kannauj and Firozabad. Apart from this, the party will not field any candidate on seats from where BSP chief Mayawati, RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary are likely to contest or may contest.”
“They announced to leave Rae Bareli and Amethi for us. Today, we have decided to leave seven seats for the alliance between SP-BSP and RLD,” said Babbar. Click for more election news
Babbar said the Congress would leave one more seat for the alliance, which would be declared later. He did not deny the possibility of that seat being Azamgarh, which is represented by SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav at present. There is speculation that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav may contest from the seat this time.
The Congress, meanwhile, has forged an alliance with the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) led by former BSP leader and NRHM scam accused Babu Singh Kushwaha on seven seats in the state. Kushwaha was expelled from the BSP in 2011 following his alleged involvement in the NRHM scam. Before the 2017 state elections, Kushwaha had joined the BJP but had to disassociate himself from the party after several leaders, including then MP and now UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, opposed his induction.
“The Congress also entered into an electoral agreement of seven seats with the Jan Adhikar Party,” said Babbar. He added that under the agreement, the Jan Adhikar Party will contest five seats. On one of the two remaining seats, a JAP candidate will contest on a Congress symbol. There has been no decision on the other seat yet.
JAP general secretary Shiv Sharan Kushwaha said, “Things have changed after the alliance. Babu Singh Kushwaha may or may not contest. He is the founder of the party. Things will be decided based on local equations.”
With these announcements, the Congress has made it clear that it will leave at least 14 seats, including seven for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, five for its new ally Jan Adhikar Party and two for the Apna Dal faction led by its founder Sone Lal Patel’s wife Krishna Patel.
