Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections next month, Samajwadi Party's state president Abu Azmi has warned the Maha Vikas Aghadi to not consider it as a "small party" and take SP into confidence while holding poll-related meetings. He also stressed that the SP needs 12 seats in Maharashtra and if the MVA does not agree to this seat-sharing then it will have to contest the polls independently.
"We need 12 seats. If they don’t give them to us, it’s not like we won’t contest the elections. We are running such a big party, even though we may not have the strength to contest on 288 seats, we will contest where we have the strength," he said, according to sources.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Azmi had stated that if any party of the MVA, be it Congress, NCP-SP, or Shiv Sena releases the assembly candidates list without discussing it with the Samajwadi Party then it would be considered that they do not consider it as a part of the alliance.
The Maharashtra SP chief also claimed that the SP was not invited to any of the meetings in the state as the MVA "thinks of us as a small party".
"My post is a warning to the Maha Vikas Aghadi. They think of us as a small party, they don’t even invite us to meetings. So far, there has only been one meeting. They say let the bigger parties have their meetings first. They consider themselves as big parties and according to them, we are only a big party in Uttar Pradesh," he stated.
The SP leader also revealed that Congress might announce candidates for a few seats, some of which have good SP strength, where the latter wants to contest. "I’ve noticed Congress is even about to announce some seats, which is why I wrote this. I’ve asked for 12 seats, and I have observed that SP has the greatest strength in all those seats," Azmi said.
In his Wednesday post, the SP leader had also said that it would be wrong for the MVA to announce candidates without discussion as the alliance's objective is to keep secular parties together. He had also mentioned that if this happens he will have to ask SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav to allow the party to contest "as many seats as possible in the assemblies where it is strong."
"Now, look, we have also spoken to Akhilesh Ji, and his visit is tomorrow and the day after. He is coming, and holding so many rallies. Despite all this, if they don’t give us seats, that can’t happen," Azmi said.
This development might be a cause of concern for the MVA alliance, which wants to avoid division of votes and a Haryana-like result in Maharashtra elections. Akhilesh Yadav may likely hold public rallies on October 18 and 19 in Malegaon in Nashik and Dhule as the SP has started campaigning in 25 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra Assembly polls will be held in a single phase on November 20. Counting of votes wil be done on November 23.