The Congress and the Samajwadi Party are likely to commence formal seat-sharing on either the 28th or 29th of this month.
NEW DELHI: The Congress and the Samajwadi Party are likely to commence formal seat-sharing on either the 28th or 29th of this month. The move comes after the SP voiced its impatience with the Congress’ slackness towards the proposed electoral alliance between the two parties.
Hours after SP leader Amar Singh gave vent to his party’s impatience, the AICC general secretary in charge of UP, Digvijay Singh told the DNA that he had phoned the SP leader to finalise the dates of the meeting. Amongst those involved in the negotiations from the Congress side will be Digvijay Singh, Rita Bahuguna and possibly Rahul Gandhi.
Burying a decade of bitterness, the two parties had joined hands in July at the time of the vote of confidence sought by the UPA government. Last week they announced the setting up of a coordination committee, but have been slow to begin seat-sharing talks.
It was only after the SP voiced its impatience that the Congress finally moved on the issue.
The SP has been trying to impress upon the Congress leadership to conclude the seat-sharing arrangement swiftly so that both parties can then get on with the business of a campaigning jointly. “It’s not enough for us to finalise the seat sharing arrangement, we also need to campaign jointly so that we can create an environment in favour of the alliance,” says Ram Gopal Yadav the leader of the SP parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha.
Senior Congress leaders were quick to clarify that the delay in the talks getting off the ground were due to the party’s pre-occupation with the preparations for the forthcoming elections in Rajhasthan, MP, Delhi and Chhattisgarh, and not a because of a lack of enthusiasm on its part.
The SP leaders are worried by the fact that the BSP is well ahead of them as far as its electoral preparations are concerned.
According to senior SP leaders, the BSP has almost finalised the names of the candidates it will field in the forthcoming elections from UP. “Most of their names have been decided and their candidates have already begun campaigning, while we are yet to even start,” an SP leader said.
j_ansari@dnaindia.net
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