Congress leaves 7 seats for Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav alliance in Uttar Pradesh

The Congress on Sunday announced it will not contest seven Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh to return the favour of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance, which has left two seats --Amethi and Rae Bareli-- for the party in the state.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (L) with Congress President Rahul Gandhi. AFP IMAGE/ FILE

The Congress has announced it will not contest seven Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress has left these seats for the SP, the BSP and the RLD alliance, which has left two seats for the party in the state.

Uttar Pradesh will vote in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled from April 11 to May 19.

LUCKNOW: The Congress on Sunday announced that it will not contest seven seats in Uttar Pradesh and leave them for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, known as the 'Mahagathbandhan'. Among the seats that the Congress has left are Mainpuri, from where SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting, Kannauj, the seat assigned to Dimple Yadav, and the seats from where BSP supremo Mayawati and RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The anouncedment was made by Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar at a press conference. He also announced the seat-sharing deal with its allies in the state. "We are leaving seven seats vacant for the SP, the BSP and the RLD. These include Mainpuri, Kannauj, Firozabad and whatever seats Mayawati ji and RLD's Jayant ji and Ajit Singh ji contest from. We will also give two seats to Apna Dal - Gonda and Pilibhit," ANI quoted Babbar as saying. According to party leaders, Congress may give up the Azamgarh seat, from where Akhilesh Yadav is expected to contest.

Babbar said his party also held talk with its ally Mahan Dal and they were satisfied with the seats they were offered. "They had said they were fine with whatever seats we give them, all they wanted was to contest Vidhan Sabha election. For Lok Sabha elections they had said they'll contest on our symbol. We'll find out a way to work with them." He said the Congress has reached an agreement with the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) on seven seats. "Out of those seven, the JAP will fight on five and we will fight on two." The JAP will contest on its own symbol from Jhansi, Etah, Chandauli, Basti and one more seat, which will be decided in a day or two. It will contest on the Congress symbol from Chandauli and one more seat, which will be declared in a few days, Babbar added. The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance on 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. As per the deal, the SP will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats in UP and the BSP 38, leaving three for the RLD and two for Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi). The BJP-led NDA won 73 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014. Uttar Pradesh will vote in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Published at : 17 Mar 2019 04:48 PM (IST)

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