The battle of attrition between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress shows no signs of abating. SP once again upped the ante.
The battle of attrition between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress shows no signs of abating. SP once again upped the ante on Sunday, deciding to put up candidates against 10 sitting Congress MPs in UP.
This comes days after the Congress declared a list of 24, including seven from constituencies held by SP.
Oneupmanship has rendered meaningless seat sharing between the two sides and brought their relations to almost breaking point, though neither admits it openly. As of now, there are only six seats where SP has not put up candidates against the Congress.
These include Amethi and Rae Bareli of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. The seats where it has put up candidates include Varanasi, Amroha, Gautambudhnagar, Misrikh, Bareilly, Khushinagar, Ambedkarnagar and Aligarh, all won by the Congress in 2004.
It appears that the Congress too will now go ahead and put up candidates in addition to the 24 it declared last week. Late on Saturday, SP chief Mulayam Singh wrote to Congress president Sonia, pointing out that seat sharing was in the interests of both parties and failure to do so would work to the advantage of their common enemy, BSP.
Political observers believe one of the main stumbling blocks for the alliance is the deep-festering suspicion on both sides and the fact that neither wants to cede ground to the other.
The Congress is suspicious of SP’s post-poll motives and believes if SP wins a large number of seats it could team up with the Third Front, while SP believes if the Congress manages to increase its tally substantially, it will make inroads into UP.
Neither side wants a complete break, nor to be the first to break ties. On Sunday, Mulayam said: “Our ties are good and everything will be worked out.” The Congress too gave nothing away. “The alliance has not come apart,” AICC general secretary in charge of UP Digvijay Singh said.
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