SP President Akhilesh Yadav.
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
SP and Congress will also have a partnership in the assembly elections of other states including Haryana and Maharashtra. Both the parties are moving ahead with this strategy. Only Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former President Rahul Gandhi will be authorized to talk to SP President Akhilesh Yadav about the alliance, so that bitterness like the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections does not arise again.
Rahul Gandhi had recently said that two boys from UP will turn Hindustan’s politics into a shop of love – Khata Khata Khata. This is also being considered a clear indication that Congress is keen to keep SP with it in the elections of other states. Akhilesh’s PDA strategy has proved to be very beneficial for the India Alliance in the Lok Sabha elections of UP. This PDA strategy is now being expanded to other states with the intention of expanding it.
Elections are due in Maharashtra and Haryana in October this year. Assembly elections are due in Delhi early next year and then in Bihar in October-November 2025. SP is staking its claim for assembly seats in Maharashtra and Haryana. In the last election in Maharashtra, two of its MLAs won. In Haryana too, the Muslim and Yadav equation is dominant in about 20 seats. The SP leadership wants to increase its share in other states so that it can get the status of a national party from a state party.
During the assembly elections held in Madhya Pradesh last year, a statement by the then state president of Congress and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath had soured the relations between the two parties. During the assembly elections, Akhilesh had even termed Congress and BJP as two sides of the same coin. However, this bitterness was removed during the Lok Sabha elections. Sources say that to avoid such a situation again, it has been decided that only Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun will talk to Akhilesh Yadav regarding taking the alliance forward. The decisions taken between these three leaders will be considered final in terms of the alliance.