UP Election 2017: Amid Akhilesh Yadav-Mulayam war, Congress-SP alliance likely

While there seems to be no end to the ongoing tussle inside the Samajwadi Party, reports have said that Akhilesh Yadav is all set to go into alliance with Congress. CNN-News18 reported that according to insiders, the two parties are likely to announce the alliance next week.

It would be worth remembering that before the split in Samajwadi became apparent, Akhilesh Yadav’s willingness to form an alliance with Congress was already a talking point, and the Congress on several occassions showed willingess to contest the upcoming seven-phase polls in Uttar Pradesh with the Samajwadi Party. Not just that the supposed alliance had also emerged as a point of conflict between the two camps in Samajwadi Party.

Currently, the party is divided into two camps — Mulayam Singh Yadav-Shivpal Yadav-Amar Singh camp and Akhilesh Yadav-Ram Gopal Yadav camp — and both have claimed majority support of party MPs and MLAs, and sought control of the party name and its election symbol. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India had given both parties time till 9 January to prove majority.

However, according to Amar Ujala , the Akhilesh camp has the support of 265 MLAs and MLCs, of which there are 209 of the 229 SP MLAs and 56 of the 65 SP MLCs.

A Times of India report said with Akhilesh gaining an upper hand over his father and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, the prospects of an alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party have increased. “Akhilesh is likely to meet Rahul on 9 January. The discussions are expected to also involve Priyanka Gandhi and will aim to thrash out details of a deal that could see Congress contesting 90-105 seats in partnership with SP, well-placed sources said,” the newspaper reported.

It is worth remembering that earlier, Congress’ chief ministerial candidate, Sheila Dikshit had showed a willingness to step down if Congress and Samajwadi Party were to go to polls together.

And now with the dates for the seven-phase poll in Uttar Pradesh already being announced, time is not really on the side of either of the two parties.

But, will Mulayam Singh Yadav join the alliance or not remains to be seen. However, senior members of the Samajwadi Party are hopeful of a possible truce between the two warring camps in the party. Party member Azam Khan recently said that he will keep trying to find a truce between the warring father and son duo until the end.

Speaking with journalists on Thursday, the SP leader seemed confident of a truce and said that both father and son are very emotional about the situation. “I will talk to the chief minister as well as Netaji. I am hopeful that both will agree. I am hoping that it will get done soon,” Khan told Hindustan Times .

Khan had been regularly communicating with both Mulayam and Akhilesh and had earlier showed concern that if the infighting in Samajwadi Party was not resolved in time, it would likely benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had showed an impressive performance in the Lok Sabha Elections in 2014.

As News18 had reported earlier, Khan had said that he is ready to bend in front of anyone and go to any one to resolve the matter.