2024 LS polls: SP asks Congress to name seats it wants to contest in UP as part of I.N.D.I.A alliance

Lucknow: Apparently indicating that it was not inclined to accede to the Congress' demand for around two dozen seats in Uttar Pradesh, which sent 80 members to the Lok Sabha, in the next year's general elections as part of the grand Opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), the Samajwadi Party (SP) has asked the grand old party to produce a list of the seats it wants to contest.

According to the sources, the SP leadership has also asked the Congress to reveal the names of its prospective candidates who will be contesting from those LS seats in the state.

''Merely demanding a particular number of seats is not enough. Congress should tell us which are the seats it wants to contest and who will be its candidates so that we can assess if those seats can be won by the party (Congress),'' a senior SP leader here said on Sunday.

The leader said that no party should demand more seats just for the sake of contesting. ''It will be better to contest less number of seats and win more rather than contesting from more and win less,'' he remarked while speaking to DH.

He also said that Congress did not have the organisational strength to contest two dozen LS seats let alone winning them.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav had also said a few days back that his party would not ask the I.N.D.I.A alliance to give seats to it. ''Instead, we will give seats to the alliance partners,'' he had remarked, hinting clearly as to who the boss in UP was.

UP Congress President Ajay Rai and the SP leaders were also engaged in a verbal duel on the issue recently. Rai had then said that his party was ready to contest from all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the next general elections.