Grand alliance hopes in UP dwindle as SP fields Dharmendra Yadav against Congress in Badaun

The Congress party’s hope of finding a place in SP-BSP-RLD grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh took a hit on Friday as Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party announced its first list of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections. In the first list, the SP fielded Dharmendra Yadav against Congress candidate Saleem Iqbal Shervani in Badaun, making it clear that the party was in no mood of giving more importance to the Grand Old Party’s renewed negotiations of an alliance.

Earlier, sources had said that the Congress party initiated a fresh round of negotiations with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party to be a part of their alliance and was close to finalising a deal.

Even though the SP, the BSP and the RLD have finalised the seat-sharing formula, they will now re-work on their pact and include the Congress, the sources had said. As per the new pact, 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 against the party 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. However, with the SP announcing candidate against Congress, the hopes of the grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh seems to have dwindled once again.

First list of Congress and Samajwadi Party candidates in Uttar Pradesh

Congress:

1. Saleem Iqbal Shervani: Badaun
2. Jitin Prasad: Dhaurahra
3. Annu Tandon: Unnao
4. Sonia Gandhi: Rae Bareli
5. Rahul Gandhi: Amethi
6. Salman Khursheed: Farrukhabad
7. Rajaram Pal: Akbarpur
8. Brij Lal Khabri: Jalaun (SC)
9. Nirmal Khatri: Faizabad
10. RPN Singh: Kushi Nagar
11. Imran Masood: Saharanpur

Samajwadi Party

1. Mulayam Singh Yadav - Mainpuri 
2. Dharmendra Yadav - Badaun
3. Akshay Yadav - Firozabad
4. Kamlesh Katheria - Etawah
5. Bhailal Kaul - Robertsganj
6. Shabbir Valmiki - Bahraich