Congress and Samajwadi Party face crucial negotiations ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. (Img: X)
New Delhi: The Congress and Samajwadi Party are preparing to form committees to negotiate a seat-sharing arrangement for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled for early next year.
But conflicting demands within the Congress, ranging from contesting more than 100 seats to fighting all 403 constituencies independently, have exposed a deep divide over the party’s electoral strategy.
The Congress is facing an internal dilemma over its seat-sharing expectations from the Samajwadi Party, even as senior leaders express confidence that a mutually acceptable alliance formula will be finalised in the coming weeks.
Top All India Congress Committee (AICC) sources have indicated that a positive and respectable seat-sharing arrangement with the Samajwadi Party could be concluded within the next two to three weeks. However, party insiders acknowledge that there is no unanimity within the Congress over the number of constituencies it should contest.
The disagreement reflects two competing approaches to the party's political future in Uttar Pradesh. While one section favours a substantial electoral understanding with the Samajwadi Party, another believes the Congress should contest a much larger number of seats, or even enter the Assembly election independently.
The Congress and the Samajwadi Party are expected to constitute separate committees in the next few days to work out the details of the proposed alliance. The panels will hold discussions and attempt to arrive at a final seat-sharing arrangement.
Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Rajendra Gautam told a news channel that the committees would be formed soon after Diwali and would meet to take a final decision. He indicated that the Congress had submitted a list of 175 to 200 constituencies to the Samajwadi Party where it wanted to field its candidates. Gautam also favoured concluding the negotiations at the earliest, arguing that the seat-sharing exercise should not be unnecessarily delayed.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly indicated that an alliance with the Congress is on the cards, expressing confidence that there would be no difficulty in reaching an understanding between the two parties.
Yadav has consistently maintained that the winnability of candidates would be the principal criterion for deciding the distribution of seats. The SP leadership has so far avoided committing itself to a specific number of constituencies for the Congress, signalling that electoral prospects would take precedence over fixed numerical demands.
Gautam, however, has stressed that while winnability remains important, the Congress must receive a respectable share of seats. The party's position underscores the challenge confronting both sides: balancing the Samajwadi Party's constituency-level calculations with the Congress's demand for a meaningful role in the alliance.
The sharpest differences have emerged within the Congress over the scale of its proposed electoral contest. Addressing a public meeting in her Rampur Khas constituency last week, newly appointed State Congress chief Aradhana Mishra indicated that the party would contest more than 100 seats. Her statement reflected the ambition of a section of the state leadership to secure a substantial share of constituencies in any alliance arrangement.
However, the more hardline faction within the Congress believes the party should contest all 403 Assembly seats and explore alliances with smaller political outfits. This approach is based on the argument that a wider electoral presence could help the party rebuild its organisation and regain political space across Uttar Pradesh.
The moderate camp, in contrast, considers an understanding with the Samajwadi Party a more practical option. Several senior leaders have acknowledged the Congress's weak organisational position in the state, where it currently has only two MLAs in the Assembly.
This section believes that a strategic alliance with the SP, broadly along the lines of the partnership between the two parties during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, would offer the Congress a more viable electoral route. The competing positions have left the party without a clearly defined negotiating strategy, raising questions about how effectively it can present its demands to the Samajwadi Party.
The differences are not limited to the Congress's state and central leadership. Some district-level committees have reportedly advised the party leadership to contest the Assembly elections independently rather than enter into an arrangement with the Samajwadi Party.
Significantly, such a recommendation has also emerged from the Etawah district committee. Etawah is considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party and is closely associated with the political influence of the Akhilesh Yadav family. The suggestion from a district unit in the SP's traditional political base highlights the extent of resistance to an alliance among sections of the Congress's local organisation.
For the Congress leadership, the challenge is to reconcile the aspirations of state-level leaders seeking a larger share of seats with the concerns of grassroots workers who favour an independent political contest.
The Congress's internal debate is also shaped by its organisational limitations in Uttar Pradesh. Several senior leaders have privately acknowledged that the party's relatively weak organisational presence remains a major constraint on its electoral ambitions.
With only two MLAs in the current Assembly, the Congress faces a difficult balancing act. It wants a respectable number of constituencies to strengthen its political footprint, but its limited legislative strength and organisational capacity could influence the Samajwadi Party's assessment of its demands.
For Akhilesh Yadav, the emphasis on winnability provides a framework to assess potential candidates and constituencies rather than agreeing to a seat-sharing formula based solely on the Congress's numerical expectations.
