UP CM Akhilesh Yadav Claims Samajwadi Party Would Have Won More Than 250 Seats On Its Own

In his first campaign speech after announcing an alliance with the Congress, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the SP would have won more than 250 seats on its own to form a majority government again but now that the alliance had been formed, the SP-Congress combine would win more than 300 of 403 seats in the House. Speaking at Sultanpur, Akhilesh focused on targeting the BJP-led government at the Centre over its demonetisation move and how it had “adversely affected” the common people. But local Congress leaders stayed away from his meetings. Sultanpur Congress district committee president Krishna Kumar Mishra told The Indian Express that he stayed away from the Chief Minister’s programme because he was yet to receive any official communication on his party’s alliance with the SP and there was no clarity on the seats being given to the Congress in the seat-sharing arrangement.