UP polls: SP ready to cycle alone, Congress works on Plan B

New Delhi: As the SP-Congress alliance tottered and seemed to be on the brink of collapse, the grand old party continued to explore a middle path while its leaders were engaged in last-minute negotiations with the Samajwadi Party brass.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has also been approached by the Congress high command to speak with both SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, to save the secular alliance.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC general secretary and Uttar Pradesh in-charge, while leaving the party’s central election committee (CEC) meet on Saturday, which lasted for over an hour, said, “A final decision on the Congress’ alliance with the SP will be announced on Sunday.”

Top Congress and SP leaders are expected to hold further parleys late Saturday night.

Priyanka Gandhi personally spoke with SP chief and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav earlier in the day to salvage the situation, sources said. But at this juncture chances of the two parties coming together look grim. Getting ready to go alone in UP polls, the Congress in its CEC meet, chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, cleared 140 names for the first two phases. The names will be announced after a final decision on the alliance is taken on Sunday.

The CEC meeting discussed many permutations and combinations to make the alliance click. The Congress, so far, is not willing to compromise on the number of seats.

Of the 403 Assembly berths, the Congress has asked for over 100 seats, while the SP is not willing to offer more than 99 seats.

SP MP Naresh Agarwal, when asked about the alliance, said that “it was almost over.” Virtually ridiculing the Congress, Mr Agarwal said, “Congress is behaving as if it is an influential outfit in UP,” and added, “We need to contest over 300 seats.”

The Congress was decimated in UP in 2012. It has only 22 MLAs in the state Assembly.

The SP has also refused to give the Congress maximum representation in the 10 Assembly segments in Amethi and Rae Bareilly and it has put up its own candidates in the nine constituencies the Congress had won in western UP.

Sources revealed that while the SP family feud was on, Mr Yadav had promised the Congress 141 seats “in writing”. Later the offer was reduced to 121 seats. After the chief minister won the bicycle symbol battle against his father, he slashed the numbers and brought it down to 99 Assembly seats. This was not acceptable to the Congress.

SP sources said that Mr Yadav would have given the Congress over 100 seats if he had not won the symbol fight and had to float his own outfit. Problems began when leaders who had deserted him started returning after his victory in the Election Commission.

“It has now become a political compulsion for Akhilesh to accommodate them or else they will contest as rebel candidates, which is bound to have an adverse impact during the polls.” Some others see Mr Yadav’s father and SP veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav’s “invisible hand” behind the entire alliance drama.

For the Congress, an alliance with the SP could be its ticket for revival in UP. The Congress wants to pull a Bihar where, latching on to the Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav-led mahagathbandhan, had helped the party increase its tally from five to 27 seats.

Not willing to let the opportunity pass and, a day after Mr Yadav won the bicycle symbol, the Congress held a press meet claiming that the “alliance is on.” The Congress’ enthusiasm was met by apathy from Mr Yadav, who said that the “decision on the alliance will be taken shortly.”

The SP’s rebuff is a rude awakening for the Congress and could result in a major loss of face for both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi if the alliance fails to take off. Both the leaders were personally holding parleys with Mr Yadav.