The Congress has humiliated Samajwadi Party President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, an important leader in the I.N.D.I Alliance. His party has been completely ignored in the upcoming assembly election in Madhya Pradesh which is scheduled to take place next month. Never mind the six seats that were promised, not a single seat was assigned to the Samajwadi Party which has left him belittled and furious.
Following the development, he declared that he would not have attended any meetings if he had known that there was no state-level alliance. Notably, he had shared his party’s performance statistics with the former Congress Chief Minister (Kamal Nath) in the state. After discussing with other Samajwadi party leaders until one in the morning, senior Congressmen declared that they were prepared to offer six seats to the former in the state polls.
According to Akhilesh Yadav, the Congress fielded candidates for every seat and left no room for the Samajwadi Party even after this arrangement was established. He mentioned that the matters pertaining to the general election would be seen later and stressed that he would not have attended any meeting or shared any list with the grand old party if he had been aware that there was no cooperation in the states.
He noted, “A former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh asked us about our performance in the state. We told him how many seats we had won and when as well as in which seats we stood at number two. We had a comprehensive discussion. They woke up Samajwadi Party leaders even at 1 a.m. They assured us six seats. However, when the lists were announced, there were zero seats for the Samajwadi Party.”
He highlighted, “If I had known on the first day that there is no alliance of I.N.D.I bloc at the assembly level then I would never have met with Congress. Our party leader wouldn’t have met or shared the list with their leaders. We would take into account if the coalition is only going to transpire in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha election.”
"अगर ये मुझे पहले दिन पता होता कि विधानसभा स्तर पर कोई गठबंधन नहीं है INDIA का तो कभी मिलने नहीं जाते हमारी पार्टी के लोग और न ही हम कभी सूची देते कांग्रेस के लोगों को। गठबंधन केवल उत्तर प्रदेश में केंद्र के लिए होगा तो उसपर विचार किया जाएगा।"
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) October 19, 2023
– माननीय राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री… pic.twitter.com/ZdDN9ETgxw
Furthermore, the Samajwadi Party announced to contest the elections on its own and has fielded its candidates in as many as 31 seats. The state in charge of the Samajwadi Party in Madhya Pradesh Vyaji Gond remarked that the party is working to nominate candidates for each of the 230 seats. The names of thirty-one candidates have been made public till now.
The two parties have been in strife for the past few days, particularly since Ajay Rai, the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress requested the Samajwadi Party to withdraw from Madhya Pradesh as it “did not have a base” there. He claimed that the battle had always been between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party. He added insult to injury and pointed out that the party won only one seat in 2018 and that its sole MLA in the state assembly had later switched to the latter.
He added that his party is preparing to contest all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2024 which infuriated Akhilesh Yadav who cautioned the Congress against permitting its minor leaders to talk about his party. “The state chief has no authority. He was not there in the meeting held at Patna, Mumbai. What does he know about the INDIA alliance,” the SP supremo asked.
He observed “These people from Congress are involved with the BJP. If I had known that the alliance is not on the state level then I would not have sent SP leaders to Digvijaya Singh. I would not have trusted them if I had known that people from Congress would betray us. Congress should not get statements made by their small-time leaders about our party.”
On 17 October he emphasised that Congress needs to make clear where it stands on the alliance between the partners in the bloc and whether the sharing of seats would be applicable at the state or the national level.
Interestingly, since the announcement of the I.N.D.I Alliance the rift in the opposition parties has become quite apparent. The Congress party and Aam Aadmi Party are at loggerheads both in Delhi and Punjab. Their leaders regularly attack each other on multiple issues. The Congress and the Trinamool Congress are at odds in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which is presently in government there is part of the bloc along with the opposition in the state. Now, the alliance does not appear to be doing well in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
