Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has offered 17 seats to Congress to contest in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as part of the I.N.D.I.A bloc seat-sharing formula. Samajwadi Party wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge informing him about the offer from the party’s side, however, Congress is yet to reply on the offer.
The party also asserted that its chief Akhilesh Yadav will join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Raebareli only if the proposal is accepted. “We have given a final offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav’s participation in the Nyay Yatra in Raebareli on Tuesday will depend on their acceptance,” Rajendra Chaudhary, the Samajwadi Party’s chief spokesperson said.
Earlier, the Samajwadi Party had offered 11 seats to Congress in Uttar Pradesh, out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.He, however, refused to identify the seats offered to the Congress. The Gandhi-led yatra will pass through Amethi on Monday. It will then enter Raebareli, where the Samajwadi Party chief had earlier said he would join.
A Congress statement on Sunday said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge would join the yatra — currently in Pratapgarh — in Amethi. The Samajwadi Party had earlier offered 11 seats to the grand old party while the Congress’ state unit demanded a higher allocation.
Ajay Rai, the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit chief, had earlier said the party should get around two dozen seats it had won in the 2009 general elections. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc.
The Congress secured victory only from the Raebareli seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh. At 80, the state sends the highest number of MPs to Parliament.
