Miffed by Congress' 'hypocrisy' in UP, SP Raises Strong Objection Ahead of Seat-Sharing Talks

Lucknow: Fresh fight has erupted between the Grand Old Party and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the seat-sharing talks for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Even before zeroing in on the seats, Congress has angered Akhilesh Yadav's party by planning to field SP turncoats as candidates. After Congress wanted SP turncoats like Imran Masood and Ravi Verma to contest from Saharanpur and Lakhimpur seats, SP raised strong objection, clearly miffed by Congress' hypocrisy.

Akhilesh, in a recent interview with an online news platform, had expressed interest in providing more seats to Congress in UP than what other INDI allies have offered in states like West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar and Delhi. However, the recent development might further complicate seat-sharing talks in a key state like UP, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats. Two months back, Akhilesh was upset with the statements made by then-Congress chief of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath over seat sharing in the MP Assembly polls.

After BJP handed out a drubbing to Congress in the Assembly elections in 2023, Akhilesh lashed out at Congress' inability to come to an agreement over seat-sharing ahead of the elections in MP, where SP enjoys a considerable OBC votebank. “If the Congress didn't want to give seats (in MP), then they should have said it before. Today, the SP is fighting only on seats where it has its own organisation. Now, after Madhya Pradesh, I know that the INDIA alliance is for the (parliamentary) elections on a national level," Yadav was quoted as saying.

“If the Congress continues to behave like this, then who will trust them? If we fight with confusion in mind against the BJP, then we won't succeed," Akhilesh had further added.