Lok Sabha Polls: Congress, SP to hold second round of seat-sharing talks today

Opposition INDIA bloc partners the Samajwadi Party and the Congress will hold a second round of talks in New Delhi on January 17 evening to decide on the share of seats each will contest in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha, the highest in the country, and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance will have to do well in the country's most populous state if it wants to dislodge the BJP at the Centre.

Of the 80 seats, the Congress, which is leading the opposition bloc, is eyeing 30, sources said. The representative of the two parties, which unsuccessfully fought the 2014 election together, would meet at 4 pm at the residence of Mukul Wasnik, who is the convenor of the Congress’ five-member National Alliance Committee, they said.

Read: Seat-sharing issues among INDIA partners will be resolved, coalition will win LS polls: Rahul Gandhi

The Samajwadi Party, considered the senior partner in Uttar Pradesh, has asked the Congress for details of the seats it wants to contest, the candidates it plans to field and also the reasons for backing the nominees.

During the first meeting, which was held in the capital on January 9, the Samajwadi Party was represented by its senior leaders Ram Gopal Yadav and Javed Ali.

“Our party leaders were fully prepared to reach an agreement during the first meeting on January 9. They had carried all documents with them, but Congress lacked details," Samajwadi Party's national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said.

Former UP chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has been pressing the Congress leadership to finalise the seat-sharing agreement at the earliest. He wanted it done before Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which started on January 14. The Congress, however, got busy with talks with the Aam Aadmi Party on decide on the seats in Delhi and Punjab.

Read more: Cong-AAP tie up for Chandigarh mayoral elections, to declare LS polls seat-sharing agenda next week

The Congress did not perform in 2019, and there has to be a concrete reason to back its seats claims and the choice of candidates, the Samajwadi Party's national spokesperson said.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress could only win one seat with a voter share of 6.3 percent. Its dismal performance was compounded by Rahul Gandhi's defeat in the family stronghold of Amethi. Then party chief Sonia Gandhi was the only Congress candidate to win from Uttar Pradesh.

BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) won 64 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, while SP-BSP ‘mahagatbandhan’ managed to win 15 seats. The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was the biggest gainer with 10 seats and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) won five seats.

To mobilise the cadre, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will spend 11 days in the state, covering 20 districts. The yatra would pass the constituencies from where the party would contest the Lok Sabha election.