Election results: SP+Cong+RLD govt in UP likely

The picture is clearer now. Uttar Pradesh is headed for a hung assembly again. The Samajwadi Party despite its strong performance will need crutches to form the government. The Congress, which has failed to live up to its own expectations, will still play an important role in the formation of the government. Of the 380 seats, lead trends of which are out so far, the SP is ahead in 160 seats, the BSP in 93, the BJP in 63 and the Congress-RLD combine in 51. If this projection is converted into seats, it means only an SP-Congress-RLD government will be in a position to form the government. [caption id=“attachment_235534” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A friend in need? The SP may need crutches in the form of Congress and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal to get to the magic number. Reuters”] [/caption] The equations in the state are clear. The BJP won’t ally with the SP. The BSP won’t support the SP. And a BSP-BJP combine won’t have enough numbers to come close to the half-way mark of 202. That leaves the only possibility — a SP-Congress-RLD combination. This combination easily go beyond the half-way mark. Assuming the SP gets around 185 seats, which is a possibility, it could manage without the help of the Congress. It could easily engineer defections in the BSP and even the Congress and secure the support of independents to make it to the magic number. A possibility of it tying up with the RLD alone is not ruled out in such a scenario. But that does not appear to be a possibility at this point. So what does it mean for the Congress, which appears set for bad news from all the states that went for polls, barring Manipur? Well, if it joins the government in UP it solves two of its immediate problems: it stays relevant in UP and second, it manages to get the support of the SP’s members of Parliament to ward off the threat from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress at the Centre. However, it’s minor solace for a party which was expecting a strong enough performance on its own. It was never in a position to be form the government but it certainly wanted to be on a much stronger wicket. It will need to re-work its strategy in the state now.