Need to seal alliance deal with SP soon for UP polls, MPs tell Congress leadership

Sources said Rahul Gandhi called a meeting with UP Congress MPs on Tuesday, where he sought the views of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members

NEW DELHI: Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh have told the party leadership that there should be an alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the 2027 assembly elections, brightening the prospects of a joint challenge to the governing BJP amid continuing pinpricks from local Congress functionaries.Sources said Rahul Gandhi called a meeting with UP Congress MPs on Tuesday, where he sought the views of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members on the upcoming assembly polls. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sat with Rahul during the session.Sources said the MPs expressed a unanimous view that there should be an alliance with SP, and it should be clinched quickly. The urgency shown by the members ties in with the growing perception that the posturing by local functionaries and their angry exchanges are sending out a negative message of discord to supporters. SP and Congress together bested BJP in UP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.However, sources said, the MPs also underlined that the Congress leadership should secure “quality seats” from SP. The stress was as much on winnable seats as on numbers.

According to sources, Rahul did not give any idea about the alliance or the tally that the party has in mind for negotiations with SP.The meeting was attended by Pramod Tiwari, Rajiv Shukla, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kishori Lal Sharma, Ujjwal Raman Singh, Rajesh Rathore, Tanuj Punia and Imran Masood. Sources said one MP cited the example of Bihar elections in 2015 and 2021 to illustrate how the party should focus on winnable seats. While Congress secured fewer seats in 2015 but scored a high tally, its score fell sharply despite contesting a high number five years later.Many participants felt the mood of the meeting suggested that an alliance with SP would be finalised soon, and seat-sharing talks would start in earnest. It is said that the newly-appointed UP Congress in-charge, Rajendra Pal Gautam, has undertaken an exercise on seats, while the party has also ordered a survey to assess its strength in individual constituencies.In the INDIA bloc meeting in June, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had asked Congress to show a “large heart” and trust the judgement of the regional parties in states.