Congress may tie up with SP for LS polls

Fri, Jul 25 01:00 AM

AS FOCUS shifts from UPA's trust vote to realpolitik, Congressmen have begun discussing possibilities of an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Although a final decision on forming an alliance would be taken after rounds of discussions among the parties' top leaders, enthused Congress leaders are already discussing ways to make it most effective.

Senior party leaders say an alliance would be effective only if the two parties work out a joint strategy to contest the Lok Sabha poll. "The Congress and the SP leaders should not only share the dais, but also campaign jointly for each other's candidates," said a senior party leader, adding that joint campaigning would have a greater impact.

He, however, added that much would depend on how the two parties went about seat sharing. "SP will now have to share seats with Congress only as the Rashtriya Lok Dal has already moved away," he said, while admitting that the issue of seat sharing would be most contentious.

The Congress leaders remain non-committal about the number of seats the party would like to contest in case of an alliance. Any fair deal would demand 50 per cent seat sharing between the two parties, said a party functionary.

"At the same time, the Congress is aware of its position and under the prevailing circumstances the 40:60 formula may also work," he said. Some Congressmen have also expressed reservations about seat sharing saying that leaving a large share for any other party would have a demoralising impact on their cadres.

The Congressmen's views on the issue were reflected at a meeting presided over by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary, Praveen Rashtrapal. "The Congressmen, however, assured Rashtrapal that they would abide by the Congress high command's decision on seat sharing," he said, adding that a joint campaign would ensure the Congress organisation is not demoralised on the seats shared by alliance partners.

Earlier this month, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh addressed a meeting of the district and city party presidents and asked them to gear up for poll. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Rita Bahuguna Joshi has indicated that the party had some good candidates for the 40 Lok Sabha seats.

Both the leaders, however, have asserted the party at present was making preparations to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats.

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