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The minutiae of the Grand Alliance in Uttar Pradesh will take a few days coming, as both the Congress and the RLD are driving a hard bargain with the Samajwadi Party (SP) over seat allocation.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also has to tread carefully to balance his father Mulayam Singh Yadav’s wish list. He also needs to pacify his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who has been sulking since Akhilesh’s faction was allotted the party symbol by the Election Commission.
The arithmetic of the alliance as per Akhilesh’s calculation is that the SP should contest no less than 300 seats of the total 403. The UP CM wants the two other partners — RLD and Congress — to share the balance103 seats between them.
The RLD is demanding 30 seats in western UP. RLD supremo Ajit Singh has been emboldened by the return of the Jats to his party over the past month. However, sources said he would be willing to compromise on 25 seats.
At the same time, the Congress is believed to be unwilling to settle for anything less than 100 seats. The compromise formula will eventually be worked out if the Congress is willing to settle for less than 90 seats while the RLD gets about 23.
Congress general secretary in charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad was expected to meet Akhilesh on Wednesday evening but he was in Delhi through the day and even addressed a press conference here. The meeting is now expected to take place on Thursday.
Meanwhile, following a series of meetings in Lucknow, Mulayam is believed to have handed a list of his choice candidates to Akhilesh. This list initially did not have Mulayam’s brother and confidant Shivpal’s name.
The latter had apparently himself decided against contesting elections and wanted his son Aditya to be fielded. However, he told reporters during the day that he himself may now be willing to contest elections. This reportedly came after much cajoling by Mulayam.
Akhilesh has strong reservations about fielding some other Mulayam favourites including Aparna Yadav, Om Prakash, Narad Rai and Ambika Chowdhary, and other candidates with criminal backgrounds such as Ateeq Ahmad and the Ansari brothers.
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