New Delhi: Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party supremo, is reportedly “unhappy” with the leadership of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) because of the prolonged delay in taking up the SP’s request for five seats, said state SP president Abu Azmi on Saturday, according to a Times of India report.
Azmi informed TOI that he had a talk with his party chief following the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s announcement of Anil Gote as their candidate for Dhule city seat, one of the five seats that SP wants to contest. He pointed out that as the MVA has not addressed their request, they have decided to contest at least 20 seats. Azmi warned that if there is a split in the secular votes in those constituencies, MVA brass will be responsible for it.
The SP has already distributed AB forms to candidates for five seats: Dhule City, Malegaon Central, Bhiwandi East, Bhiwandi West, and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. At present, Azmi is the MLA for Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, while Rias Sheikh is the party’s legislator for Bhiwandi East. In these five seats, most of the electorate belong to the minority community, and the SP thinks that the party can galvanise their support.
The SP candidates for Malegaon Central, Shan-e-Hind Nehal Ahmed, and for Dhule City, Irshad Jagirdar, both said that they have received the AB forms and intend to file their nominations on October 29. Akhilesh Yadav conducted elections rallies at Malegaon Outer and Dhule City during his recent two-day visit to Maharashtra.
‘We cannot wait any longer’
Azmi said that the party had been asking MVA politicians for a long time. “We are not like the Congress politicians who frequently travel to Delhi to discuss the seat-sharing issues with their central leadership before declaring the seats that they would contest. We cannot wait any longer as the polls are approaching,” Azmi was quoted as saying by TOI. Azmi said the SP was cutting down on its demand of 12 seats to five seats.
According to state Congress sources, talks on seat-sharing between the three key partners of MVA are still underway. A state Congress party official said that in some seats, there have been no consensus. Only when the three major partners resolve the issue will we be able to talk to the smaller parties to meet their demands, he added. “There are places like Dhule city, where Sena (UBT) has already declared the candidate. There is little that Congress can do due to the rigidness of alliance partners,” the functionary said.
