In marathon Delhi meet, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati reach consensus on poll alliance minus Congress

As per the seat-sharing pact reached, both the Samajwadi Party and the BSP will fight on 37 seats each and the remaining six seats will go to smaller allies.

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In marathon Delhi meet, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati reach consensus on poll alliance minus Congress

Both, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP, will fight on 37 seats each will 6 remaining seats will go to the smaller allies.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have reached consensus on the pre-poll alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, according to sources. In a marathon meeting held at Mayawati’s Delhi residence on Friday, both leaders are believed to have finalised the final seat-sharing pact for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. As per the seat-sharing pact reached, both the Samajwadi Party and the BSP will fight on 37 seats each and the six remaining seats will be given to smaller alliance partners like Chaudhary Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

Ajit Singh’s RLD and Rajbhar’s SBSP will get two seats each but if Rajbhar didn’t join the mega anti-BJP alliance, his share of two seats will be equally divided between the major allies.

Miffed with the Congress party, both Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati do not want the Grand Old Party to be a part of the Grand Alliance. However, they will still not field any candidate against the Gandhies in their stronghold Amethi and Rae Bareli, the sources said.

Also Read | Lok Sabha Polls 2019: Shivpal Yadav, rebel Samajwadi Party leader, likely to join hands with Congress

Earlier last week, Akhilesh Yadav had indicated his decision to keep the Congress out by saying that the Congress cleared his way when he didn't see his party's only MLA in the list of newly elected Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's cabinet ministers.

"Thanks to the Congress, they did not make our vidhayak (legislator) a minister." By doing so, the Congress had "cleared the path for Uttar Pradesh," Akhilesh Yadav had told reporters.

Mayawati, who had extended her party's support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan when the party fell short of a majority, is also not happy with the Congress and even snubbed the party to reconsider her support if the cases against 'innocent' people during the Bharat Bandh were not withdrawn.

"If the newly-elected governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan do not act swiftly and withdraw the cases against the innocent persons framed in Bharat Bandh, the BSP may have to reconsider extending the outside support to the Congress governments," Mayawati had said in a press release in Lucknow.

Also Read | This is what Akhilesh Yadav has to say about alliance with BSP for 2019 elections

In 2014, the BJP and its allies had won 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. However, the BJP lost bypolls in strong-hold Gorkhapur and Phulpur when the SP and the BSP came together. Seeing the success of their alliance, the once sworn enemies forgot the past and forged an alliance to stay relevant in the national politics. The final announcement of the seat-sharing pact is possible after another meeting between Akhilesh and Mayawati next week.

congress Uttar pradesh Mayawati Akhilesh Yadav SP BSP Grand Alliance lok sabha elections 2019