Crack in INDIA alliance? Akhilesh Yadav says SP preparing on all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said his party is making preparations on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh - a move that could indicate that all is not well in the INDIA alliance. Earlier, the SP indicated that it will contest 65 Lok Sabha seats in the state, leaving the remaining to its allies.

The Samajwadi Party is part of the INDIA alliance, which has come together to take on the BJP in 2024. But Yadav's statement that his party is preparing on all 80 constituencies suggests that he may be preparing for a solo fight or hard negotiations for maximum seats with Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress and Akhilesh Yadav appear to be not on the same page when it comes to the alliance. Recently, Yadav expressed his disappointment when Congress denied seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh, which the SP was looking to contest from six constituencies. The former UP chief minister accused the Congress of 'betrayal' in MP. He said he did not even know that the INDIA alliance was only for the Lok Sabha elections, not assembly polls.    

"If Congress didn't want to give seats (in MP), then they should have said it before. Now after Madhya Pradesh, I know that the INDIA alliance is for the (parliamentary) elections on a national level. If Congress continues to behave like this, then who will trust them?" Yadav said last month.

The SP chief is not the only leader upset with the Congress. Recently, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was once seen as the front-runner for the convenor post, said that there had not been much progress on that front.

"The Congress seems to be more interested in the five assembly polls," he said, confirming some reports that the grand old party was waiting for the results so that it could ask for more seats.

"In the INDIA coalition, all of us had agreed to assign the Congress the leading role. But it appears they will respond and call the next meeting only after they are through with the ongoing elections," the Bihar chief minister, who had hosted the first meeting of opposition leaders here in June, said.

So far, the alliance, which took shape on the initiative of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has held three meetings - first in Patna, followed by Bengaluru, and then Mumbai. However, after the third meeting on August 31-September 1, the pace of the talks has slowed.

"The Samajwadi Party is making preparations on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the coming elections, how many allies have to be taken along will be known later," Yadav said. He, however, added that preparations have to be made on all 80 seats as help will have to be extended to the alliance partners that contest the polls.

Yadav said the organisation should be prepared to help the alliance partners which get seats to contest. "The SP is with the INDIA and PDA (Pichchde, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) is our strategy and the NDA has been perturbed by it," he said. The PDA is with INDIA, he said.

Earlier today, the Samajwadi Party chief, while addressing a rally in MP's Tikamgarh slammed the Congress. "If you are getting nothing as ration, then why will you vote for BJP? Do not even vote for Congress, they are a very cunning party...If Congress can cheat on us...Congress wants caste-based census for the sake of votes."