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| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Jan 22, 2017, 09:05 PM IST
Capping days of feverish parleys, Congress and Samajwadi Party forged an alliance on Sunday to contest the UP Assembly polls together. At a joint press conference in Lucknow, leaders of the two parties said SP will contest 298 of the 403 seats and Congress the remaining 105.
"SP and Congress have forged an alliance and will contest UP assembly polls together," SP state president Naresh Uttam told the hurriedly convened media briefing.
UP PCC chief Raj Babbar hoped the SP-Congress alliance will reap a bumper electoral harvest in the state and fulfil aspriations of all sections of the society. He said a Common Minimum Programme will be drafted within a week.
Talks between top Congress and SP leaders had been going on for the last several days for but an announcement got delayed as the two parties refused to scale down their demand for the number of seats each would contest.
Sources said the alliance materialised after Congress President Sonia Gandhi intervened. They said top leaders of both the parties finalised the seat sharing arrangement around wee hours on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Senior BJP leader Arun Singh and Uttar Pradesh State President Keshav Prasad Maurya released the list of 155 BJP candidates for UP polls. Pankaj Singh, son of Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be contesting from Noida. While, Rita Bahuguna will be contesting from Lucknow Cantt, Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West and Garima Singh to contest from Amethi.
