Lok Sabha Polls 2019: Blow to Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav hints at UP alliance minus Congress

In a big blow to Rahul Gandhi's grand alliance dreams for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said that his party would go for a Congress-less alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Talking to media in Lucknow, Yadav said that the Uttar Pradesh’s anti-BJP alliance will be formed without the Congress. Yadav's big statement came a day after the Congress didn't induct Samajwadi Party’s sole MLA in the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet. "The Congress has cleared our way by not including our MLA," Yadav said. The major political development comes at a time when BSP chief Mayawati has also announced that her party will go solo in Madhya Pradesh during Lok Sabha elections next year. The Samajwadi Party is currently in talks with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh to forge an anti-BJP alliance.

The BSP had gone solo during for the recently concluded Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. There are reports that the BSP is likely to make a big announcement about the 2019 strategy on January 15, which happens to be Mayawati's birthday. However, with this announcement, it looks like the road won't be easy for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. In the current Lok Sabha, the Congress has only two seats – Rae Bareli and Amethi- from Uttar Pradesh. The two constituencies are the bastion of Congress, which are represented by the Congress chief and his mother Sonia Gandhi.  

Earlier, News Nation had reported that the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are coming together for a pre-poll alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) will also be a part of the anti-BJP alliance which excludes the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav-led SP and Mayawati-led BSP have also finalised the seat-sharing formula for next year's general elections. According to the sources, the Samajwadi Party will contest 37 seats while the Bahujan Samaj Party will fight on 38 of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies. Three seats - Baghpat, Mathura, Kairana - will go to Ajit Singh's RLD. Singh is likely to contest from his stronghold Baghpat while his son Jayant Choudhary will once again contest from Mathura. BJP's Hema Malini had defeated Jayant from Mathura constituency in 2014.

The alliance, however, will not field its candidates on Amethi and Raebareli - the traditional seats of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, the Congress party was also supposed to be the part of the grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh to keep the BJP out of the power. However, the Congress party was not happy with the number of seats Akhilesh and Mayawati were offering to it. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had win 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party had won 5 seats whereas the BSP was unsuccessful in opening its account.