Congress likely to join SP-BSP grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh for Lok Sabha elections

After Balakot air strike, the political atmosphere of the country changed in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati were quick to sense this. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, who stitched a grand alliance for Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh with RLD, are now considering a change in their strategy. If sources are to believed, the SP and the BSP have started a fresh round of talks with the Congress to include the party in their grand alliance.

Even though the SP, the BSP and the RLD have finalised the seat-sharing formula, the alliance will now re-work on their pact and include the Congress. According to sources, the Congress may be given 13 more seats which will make its tally to 15 seats as the grand alliance had already decided not to field candidates on two seats - Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Earlier, the Congress party had demanded 20 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. However, both Akhilesh and Mayawati agreed to give just 15 seats but the Congress rejected the offer. In the fresh round of talks, the Congress demanded 15 more seats, excluding Amethi and Rae Bareli. However, sources said that SP and BSP are willing to give just 13 more seats and given the current political discourse, the Congress is likely to accept the offer.

As per the new pact, the Samajwadi Party will vacant seven seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party will give up six seats. During a press conference on Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav himself had said that the Congress was not completely out of the grand alliance and the talks were still on.

BSP chief Mayawati and SP's Yadav had jointly announced their alliance in January, saying the SP and the BSP will contest 38 seats each out of the total 80 in Uttar Pradesh. However, according to a list released later, the SP announced it will contest 37 seats and the BSP 38.