UPCC chief Ajay Rai upsets Samajwadis; SP-Cong ties under strain

Lucknow, Oct 8 (IANS) Negotiations for seat-sharing between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have not yet begun but relationship between the two parties is getting increasingly strained.

The Samajwadi Party has apparently taken umbrage at the statements being issued by UPCC chief Ajay Rai who has been insisting that the Congress would contest all 80 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Samajwadi Party (SP) national general secretary Shivpal Yadav said that UP Congress president Ajay Rai must alter his thinking towards the INDIA alliance or else his statements would be harmful to the Opposition bloc.

“The INDIA alliance that has been made and the national leaderships are taking decisions. Ajay Rai should change his mind set and thinking, if he does not change it then it will harm the alliance,” Yadav warned.

He said that leaders should understand the wider ramifications of such alliances before delivering their verdict on all issues.

Another senior SP leader said that Rai should stop making statements on issues that concern the national leadership of his party.

“If he continues to speak on such issues, we will be forced to think that he is echoing the sentiments of his leaders,” he said.

According to sources, SP is hesitant to allocate more than five to six constituencies to the Congress in the state, whereas the Congress is pushing for approximately two dozen seats.

The basis for SP’s offer is the Congress' performance in the state during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which it managed to secure only one seat in Rae Bareli, represented by Sonia Gandhi.

During those elections, the Congress lost its stronghold of Amethi, where senior party leader Rahul Gandhi was defeated by Union Minister Smriti Irani.

On the other hand, the Congress is advocating for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as the benchmark for seat sharing. In 2009, the Congress independently won 21 seats in the state.

A state Congress leader commented: “We are seeking at least 18 seats where we believe we can emerge victorious.” However, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP has been unwilling to concede to the Congress's demands.

Akhilesh Yadav had recently stated that his party would not request seats from the INDIA bloc --instead, they would offer seats to their alliance partners, clearly asserting their dominance in Uttar Pradesh.

SP leaders have pointed out that they also need to accommodate allies including the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in the western region. Additionally, they would be accommodating Bhim Army leader Chandra Shekhar and Apna Dal (Krishna Patel).

Interestingly, even after the formation of INDIA alliance, Ajay Rai had publicly accused the SP of ‘backstabbing’ the Congress by fielding its candidate in the Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand during a recent by-poll, resulting in the Congress candidate's narrow loss to the BJP candidate.

The statement has not gone down well in the Samajwadi camp that now feels that ‘leaders like Ajay Rai’ are out to scuttle the INDIA bonhomie.