SP not to ally with RLD, tie-up only with Congress in UP

Dashing the hopes of a 'maha gathbandhan' against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party today ruled out any alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) but asserted that it would have a tie-up with Congress.

"We will forge an alliance only with the Congress. We will not ally with the RLD. No talks are going on with them (RLD). We will contest from over 300 seats (out of 403) and the Congress will be there for the rest of them," SP national vice president Kironmoy Nanda told PTI.

The decisions regarding forging an alliance and seats were taken at a marathon six-hour meeting held by Chief Minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav with senior party leaders today. Sources said the RLD wanted more seats than what the SP was ready to part with.

"We wanted the seats of our choice but there was no agreement on it," RLD spokesman Anil Dubey said, declining to elaborate. Congress reportedly offered some 20 seats to RLD chief Ajit Singh's son Jayant Choudhary, who is in touch with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

According to insiders, Singh has said he will not accept less than 30 seats and was now contemplating going solo. "If the Congress wants to work out a deal with the RLD from its share (of seats), that is up to them," Nanda said.

In the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the RLD had won only nine seats. Two years later, in the Lok Sabha election, large swaths of Jats, who account for 17 per cent of western UP's voters, spurned the party for the BJP.

The Jats are, however, upset as the BJP has not included them in caste-based groups entitled to government jobs and admission in educational institutions. Nanda said the details of the seats would be announced by SP national president Akhilesh Yadav.

"After the alliance with the Congress, we will get an absolute majority in the state and Akhilesh will become chief minister again," he asserted, adding that the SP will release its poll manifesto soon.

In the 2012 Assembly polls, the SP had won 224 seats with a vote share of 29.3 per cent, while the Congress had bagged 28 seats with an 11.7 per cent vote share.

As regards finalisation of candidates, Nanda said, "SP has finalised its candidates for the first and second phases (of the upcoming polls). Now, it is up to the Congress to decide on their nominees."
Efforts to cobble together a grand alliance in Bihar too had come across a hurdle with the SP deciding to go it alone in the 2015 Assembly polls in that state.

The Bihar unit of the SP had demanded at least 27 seats, but later agreed to contest from 12.
When finally they were given only five seats, the party took it as a humiliation and decided to go solo.