1 week Ago
Not all seems well between 'UP ke do Ladke' over seat sharing for the upcoming by elections on assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress is considering to sit out of the contest rather than fight on just 2 seats offered by the Samajwadi Party. The two seats offered by the Samajwadi Party to the Congress are Ghaziabad and Khair against the latter's demand of five seats.
The Congress leadership has informally conveyed to SP that it is not willing to contest on just two seats, India Today reported citing sources. Congress' Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pandey, state party chief Ajay Rai and party leader Aradhana Mishra are in touch with SP leaders but the regional satrap is unlikely to yield and give more than 2 seats, sources added. The development comes as the grand old party is faced with pressure from its INDIA bloc allies to go back to the drawing board for future elections after the party's disastrous performance in Haryana and its failure to make inroads in Jammu.
Seat-sharing was discussed in informal talks between Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the swearing-in ceremony of Omar Abdullah as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister in Srinagar. Top Congress leadership could soon have final talks with Akhilesh Yadav on seat-sharing for UP bypolls, as per sources. Meanwhile, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party has announced its seven candidates and may announce a candidate on the Kundarki seat on Monday.
Akhilesh Yadav's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav will file his nomination from the Karhal seat. Nine assembly seats will vote in the upcoming by-election on November 13 -- Meerapur, Khair, Katehari, Sishamau, Majhawan, Ghaziabad, Kundarki, Karhal and Phulpur. The bypoll date for the Milkipur assembly seat has not yet been announced due to an election petition pending in court.
During the Lok Sabha elections, the SP and Congress contested together and won 43 out of the 80 seats. Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party emerged as the largest with 37 seats whereas the Congress got only 6 seats..
