Samajwadi Party eyes poll alliance with Congress

With the rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) out of the scene, the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) of Uttar Pradesh has offered an olive branch to the Congress party, proposing a pre-poll alliance in the state.

According to SP sources, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has made the offer to leave aside 16 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state for Congress nominees. Although the offer is below the Congress party's expectations, it is considering the offer. The Congress party originally wanted to contest a minimum of 25 seats in the state.

The SP had earlier announced its decision to put up its candidates in 70 seats, leaving 10 aside for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), partner in the state government.

The SP had initially refused to become part of any front or group, forcing the Congress party to turn to the BSP. The BSP chief Mayawati, however, disappointed the Congress party by announcing its decision to go it alone in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, saying she will have no ties with a party supporting the Yadav government.

Yadav's offer has now ensured that the lingering threat of withdrawal of support to his government by the Congress party may not be carried out, although he is not dependent on the Congress party's support for survival of his coalition government. The offer has come in the wake of reports that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has decided to set aside only four seats for it in neighbouring Bihar.

The RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, who was in the capital to finalise the seat sharing deal with other friendly parties but failed to meet the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi due to her preoccupation, has hardened his stand saying the Congress party is not in a condition to win more than four out of 40 seats in the state.

RJD is among the oldest partners of the Congress party. "It is obvious that Laloo has put a heavy price on supporting Sonia's bid to become the next prime minister of the country," a senior Congress leader said.

Four seats are not acceptable to the Congress party, which has started with demand for 22 seats but had said that it will settle down for a minimum of 15.

Laloo's unilateral announcement has disappointed many parties and opened the possibility of friendly contest over many seats, much to the glee of the rival National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The NDA partners in the state, namely the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) have finalised their seat sharing talks to put up a unified fight on all 50 Lok Sabha seats of Bihar.

Besides the Congress party, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of prominent Dalit (lower caste) leader Ram Vilas Paswan is also disappointed with Laloo's offer of three seats to it.