Assembly elections of Maharashtra and Jharkhand are being held along with Uttar Pradesh by-elections. That is why if any political strategy is being played in UP, its effect is being seen in the politics of Maharashtra also. Akhilesh was planning to keep Congress at the mercy of SP in the UP by-elections. In seat sharing, Congress definitely left the field of Uttar Pradesh due to not getting respectable and desired seats, but in Maharashtra, such a thrashing was done that SP is in trouble. In such a situation, Akhilesh Yadav is not able to attack Congress or India Alliance even if he wants to, because SP’s political thread is stuck in UP.
In the Lok Sabha elections, SP became the number one party in UP by winning 37 parliamentary seats. Only after this, Akhilesh Yadav had adopted the strategy of expanding SP outside UP with the aim of giving recognition to SP on the national platform. SP had made a strategy to contest elections in Maharashtra under the India Alliance, for which it had selected to contest on Muslim dominated seats. SP had started the demand to contest elections on 32 seats in Maharashtra, then gradually reduced it to 12 and now 5 seats, but when Congress pulled back from contesting the by-elections in UP, SP’s India alliance in Maharashtra. The plans to contest elections together were eclipsed.
Congress leaves field for SP in UP
Congress did not leave the political field for SP in UP just like that, but there is a strategy behind it. Instead of just being favored, Congress wants proper participation from SP. In such a situation, Congress had proposed five seats, but SP did not consult on the seats under the alliance principle. Declared the candidate without talking. Announced to leave Ghaziabad and Khour seats for Congress. The one-sided equations on both the seats were not favorable for the Congress, due to which it felt displeased. The political base of SP and Congress is the same in UP, due to which there is a game of check-mate between the two.
Akhilesh Yadav is in no mood to give too much political space to Congress in Uttar Pradesh, due to which he offered such seats which Congress was not considering suitable for itself. In such a situation, Congress itself ignored SP’s decision to leave Phulpur seat at the last moment. The reason behind this was that if Suresh Yadav from Congress contested the elections in place of SP’s Mujtaba Siddiqui, there was a danger that Congress would have to suffer the consequences in future. Congress is claiming to be well-wishers of Muslims in the entire country. In such a situation, she did not want to bear the stigma of cutting the minority ticket. Therefore, Congress gave up the option of contesting the by-elections and announced to support SP.
SP upset by Congress’ move in Maharashtra
Understanding the political intentions of Akhilesh Yadav, Congress definitely stepped back from the UP by-elections, but now its heat is being felt even in the politics of Maharashtra. Akhilesh Yadav had planned to expand SP’s political base in Maharashtra with the help of Muslim voters and India alliance, but he did not get much interest in seat sharing. Congress wants to give only two seats to SP in Maharashtra, that too where SP has sitting MLAs. This is the reason why out of the five seats on which SP had announced the names of its candidates, Congress and NCP have fielded their candidates on three seats.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday that we are the people to be ignored. There is no place for sacrifice in politics. This statement given in relation to Maharashtra elections is also being linked to the alliance with Congress. Because SP has fielded candidates on five seats in Maharashtra and was demanding 12 seats under the India alliance. Congress is not ready to give its quota of seats. Not only this, after preparing to contest elections on SP ticket, Fahad Ahmed has joined Sharad Pawar’s NCP to contest elections from Anushakti Nagar seat, while Nawab Malik has announced to contest the elections as an independent against Abu Asim Azmi. In this way, political tension has increased for SP.
Due to compulsion, SP is not able to openly attack Congress.
It is the political compulsion of UP by-elections that SP is not able to openly attack Congress. Akhilesh Yadav said that our first effort will be to remain in the alliance. He stressed that there is no room for sacrifice in politics. If they do not want to keep us in the alliance, then we will contest elections only where our party gets votes or the organization is already working so that the alliance does not suffer.
Congress deliberately delayed seat sharing till the last moment!
Akhilesh Yadav definitely wants to expand SP nationally, but not on the terms of UP. Understanding this very well, Congress had kept the issue of seat sharing of Maharashtra pending till the last moment. In Maharashtra, Congress held talks with Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray for seat sharing, but did not give special attention to SP. Congress wants to settle the political scores of UP by giving two seats to SP in Maharashtra. The result of this is that Akhilesh is not openly targeting Congress despite wanting to?
