MP poll: INDI alliance partners Samajwadi Party & Congress fail to reach deal on seats
The Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) parties are now face-to-face on at least five seats so far as per the list of candidates released from the two sides amid the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.
The strain between the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) is finally showing through and the seat-sharing formula for the polls has reportedly fallen through.
It now remains to be seen if this development has any impact on the seat-sharing talks between the two for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
Trouble began when the Congress released a list of 144 candidates for the elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
The list included the name of Charan Singh Yadav as the party candidate for the Bijawar seat (constituency number 52).
In the 2018 Assembly polls, SP’s Rajesh Kumar had won the seat by a margin of over 67,000 votes.
The move left the SP cadres in Madhya Pradesh restless.
Feeling the pulse of the party leaders and cadres, the SP leadership convened a meeting of office-bearers from MP at the party headquarters in Lucknow.
Chaired by SP president Akhilesh Yadav, the meeting was attended by party national general secretary Shivpal Yadav among others.
After a hectic discussion that went beyond a couple of hours, the party decided to formally announce the names of candidates for nine seats.
The list included at least five seats where the Congress has already fielded a candidate.
Senior SP members said the party leadership has decided to contest the MP Assembly polls alone.
“The party leadership will soon declare more names as well,” he said.
Sources have blamed “lack of communication from the Congress end” as the main cause of the two parties contesting MP polls independently.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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