Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP President Akhilesh Yadav.
– Photo: ANI (File)
Expansion
SP has claimed 12 assembly seats in Maharashtra and 5 in Haryana under the India Alliance. In return, Congress can get two seats in the UP assembly by-election. Sources say that the SP leadership has also explained its philosophy to Congress for the future – ‘Give with one hand, take with the other’.
Elections for the 10 vacant seats of UP assembly are likely to be held along with the general assembly elections of Maharashtra and Haryana. The general elections of these states are believed to be held in October. Congress has also demanded seats in the UP assembly by-elections under the alliance.
In UP, one seat has fallen vacant due to the conviction of Sisamau (Kanpur) SP MLA Irfan Solanki, while nine MLAs have now become Lok Sabha MPs. Out of these, five seats Karhal, Sisamau, Milkipur, Katehari and Kundarki were with SP till now. On the other hand, Khair, Ghaziabad and Phulpur were won by BJP, Majhwa Nishad Party and Meerapur by RLD. Political sources close to SP President Akhilesh Yadav say that if his party’s claim is accepted in Maharashtra and Haryana, then there can be a consideration of giving Ghaziabad and Mirzapur’s Majhwa seat to Congress in UP.
In Haryana, SP has demanded five assembly seats from Jind, Mahendra Nagar, Gurgaon and Rewari districts. SP leadership says that Muslim and Yadav voters are in majority in these seats, due to which the equation is in their favour. These are the seats which Congress has been losing for three-four consecutive elections.
Claim made on these 12 seats in Maharashtra
In Maharashtra, Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar and Bhiwandi East assembly seats are currently with SP. Apart from these two seats, it has staked its claim on Bhiwandi West, Malegaon Central, Versova, Aurangabad East, Dhule, Akola West, Nagpur Central, Karanja, Jalgaon Jamod, Raver and Amravati seats.