New Delhi: The Congress will not be in the race for the nine Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-polls in November. Earlier, it had requested for at least five seats, including Milkipur in the Ayodhya district, which it has not won since 1989.
The Samajwadi Party has announced that it would contest all nine seats, with all candidates contesting against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as INDIA bloc nominees.
“We have decided to save the Constitution… reservation… and harmony. We have decided to build the country as dreamed of by Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) – Babasaheb (Ambedkar) – Lohia (Ram Manohar, an iconic freedom fighter and socialist political leader),” Akhilesh Yadav wrote in a post on X.
The SP chief’s Hindi post also had a photograph of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and himself holding hands firmly and raising them high.
Akhilesh Yadav underscored that the partnership is not only about seat-sharing but instead about the key goal of diminishing the BJP’s substantial lead in the UP Assembly. He said that this unprecedented cooperation has boosted every worker of the INDIA bloc, “strengthening our determination to secure all nine Assembly seats”.
हमने ये ठाना है ‘संविधान, आरक्षण, सौहार्द’ बचाना है
‘बापू-बाबासाहेब-लोहिया’ के सपनों का देश बनाना है pic.twitter.com/Uzy2S2RTLn— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) October 24, 2024
Congress-SP alliance – How did it come about?
The Congress-SP alliance was announced after the Congress reportedly wanted to fight at least five seats, but the SP was not willing to give up more than two, as the grand old party has not performed well in the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, the BJP secured 255 seats and the Samajwadi Party 111. The Congress could bag only two – Pharenda and Rampur Khas. The SP posted a brilliant show in the April-June Lok Sabha election in the state, by winning up 37 of 80 seats while the BJP secured 33. The Congress won six, including Amethi.
The Congress also fared badly in the Haryana elections. After the results were declared, the Samajwadi Party announced candidates for six seats, while brushing aside the Congress demand for five seats. The Congress went on the defensive as it didn’t want that the rift should make a dent on the broader interests — the INDIA bloc.
According to some sources, withdrawing from the UP by-election could also because of a broader strategic plan to counter the Samajwadi Party’s demands to contest 12 seats in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. By letting it contest on 9 seats in UP by-polls, it can argue against giving seats to it in Maharashtra, especially after Congress’ good performance in the Lok Sabha elections in that state.
Surendra Rajput, a state Congress leader, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI that the decision to withdraw in UP was taken to defeat the BJP. “INDIA is contesting all nine seats. For us, symbol is not important… for us end of the BJP’s misgovernance is important…” he pointed out.
SP is turning BJP’s ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ slogan into reality: BJP
Rakesh Tripathi, the BJP’s state unit spokesperson, said that the Samajwadi Party had taken “revenge” for the Haryana and Madhya Pradesh elections, in which the Congress had declined Akhilesh Yadav’s seat-sharing request. The BJP defeated the Congress in these states.
In response to the announcement of contesting all seats in the by-election under the bicycle election symbol, BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi remarked, “The hand symbol has been left empty; Congress will now be left rubbing its hands together. The Samajwadi Party has dealt a blow to Congress with this move.”
Tripathi declared that Congress had been given a “dhobi pachad daav” (which means pinned to the ground in wrestling).
The BJP leader also said that the SP is turning the BJP’s ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ slogan real.
