SP MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel slammed Rahul Gandhi for “running away” from Amethi. The comments come amid growing friction between SP and Congress, allies in the INDIA bloc, over seat-sharing for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Speaking to ANI, Patel said Gandhi has no real ground reality in the state. “Rahul Gandhi doesn’t really have one either. The ground reality here is this: we remember that in the last MP elections, they ran away from Amethi. Why did they run away from Amethi? They were scared; they had already lost once,” he said.
SP MP Slams Rahul Gandhi, Congress Over ‘Unreasonable’ Demands
He said Gandhi eventually agreed to contest from Raebareli after SP president Akhilesh Yadav advised him to contest from the party’s traditional seat. “Then, with great difficulty, they agreed to contest Raebareli. They wanted to fight in South India. So Akhilesh Yadav ji explained that it has always been your party’s traditional seat, and we want you to fight from here. And it had been a long time since they had stayed there in December. So Akhilesh Yadav ji said that if you don’t fight, we will field our own candidate. He told him, ‘Fine, you go.’ Then they agreed, and everyone worked hard,” he said.
“Akhilesh Yadav ji also told all his voters to vote for Rahul Gandhi with all their might. So when they themselves depend on us, it means their entire party’s top leadership understands that we don’t have a mass base here,” he added.
On the Congress’s reported demand for 150 seats, Patel said, “Some of these ‘Chhutbhaiya’ leaders keep talking nonsense. Demanding 150 seats, half the seats, this, that—it’s not fair; it goes against the spirit of an alliance.”
“The National President will decide how many seats to allocate. Given the current circumstances, the Congress party’s demands are highly unreasonable. They currently have two MLAs, whereas we have 125. Based on this ratio, they should receive seven or eight seats… We can give them even 50 seats; anything beyond that would simply mean wasting seats and risking defeat,” he added.
“Congress should demand seats based on their actual numbers and standing, rather than making arbitrary demands. Their realistic capacity is around 25-30 seats,” he further said.
Recalling the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he said, “They were given 17 seats, out of which they only won six.”
He also said the 2017 alliance with the Congress had hurt the SP. “It was just because of Congress that a party which had done so much good work in the state ended up losing so many seats.”
On the alliance, Patel said, “Akhilesh Yadav ji is absolutely firm that we will honour our alliance. But there is a limit to that. If you don’t even have a candidate, what’s the point of forcefully demanding seats?”
He further credited the SP’s PDA formula for expanding its support base among backward and Dalit communities and claimed that voters who previously supported BSP had shifted towards the SP. “Everyone knows that only Akhilesh Yadav can provide good governance, ensure justice for all, and work for the welfare of everyone. That is why the public stands with Akhilesh Yadav; the Congress has no contribution in this regard,” he said.
On Congress’ political position in Uttar Pradesh, Patel said the party’s mass base in the state was “very low”. “What can I even say about their numbers? Their mass base here is very low, next to nothing. So when you don’t even have a mass base, let alone a vote bank,” he said.
Party Leadership Responds Amid Public Friction
Meanwhile, after Patel’s remarks, SP president Akhilesh Yadav asked party leaders to keep their views on seat-sharing negotiations and the Congress within internal party channels, amid public friction between the two INDIA bloc allies ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. “I would like to tell all our leaders that whatever opinions or concerns they have regarding seat-sharing should be shared with us,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
State vs National Leadership Debate
Newly appointed UP Congress president Aradhana Mishra dismissed the state-level commentary, saying seat-sharing would be decided at the national level by the INDIA bloc leadership. She said the Congress leadership would decide both the number of seats and the timing of any alliance.
Congress Demands 150 Seats
Earlier, UP Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam said seat-sharing was likely to be finalised in October. “Congress has candidates available to contest all 403 seats. Under the alliance, the Congress party is entitled to get 50 per cent of the seats. Congress will not contest fewer than 150 seats,” he said.
“For the last two months, Congress has been working on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal and I are looking after this work,” Gautam added.
Election Context: 2022 and 2024 Polls
The Congress and SP had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state as alliance partners. Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go to polls in 2027.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP won 255 of the 403 seats with a 41.29 per cent vote share, while the SP secured 111 seats with 32.06 per cent votes. The Congress won two seats with a 2.33 per cent vote share, while the BSP won one seat with 12.88 per cent votes. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)