New Delhi, January 10
The alliance between the Congress and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh is fast reaching the breaking point with the SP unilaterally releasing its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha today. The Congress promptly hit back by wooing SP MP Salim Sherwani who has been denied a ticket by his party.
Sherwani, who has won consistently from Badaun for the last four elections as a SP candidate, dropped in to see Digvijay Singh, AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, at the Congress headquarters, this evening. Clearly upset over the SP’s decision to drop him, Sherwani said he was determined to contest the coming Lok Sabha election from Badaun but kept everybody guessing on whether he will do so on a Congress ticket.
“I will not take any decision till I have consulted my people,” he said, adding that he was going to his constituency next week for this purpose. However, Sherwani’s decision to meet Digivijay Singh at the AICC office in full public view appeared to suggest that he will be joining the Congress like his other SP colleagues Raj Babbar and Beni Prasad Verma.
In case Sherwani does join the Congress, it could prove to be the proverbial last straw which could see the collapse of the electoral alliance between the SP and Congress. Their representatives have not met for over two months to discuss their seat-sharing arrangement as they have not resolved their differences over several constituencies on which both are staking claim.
As the war of words between the two parties intensified, the SP went ahead and released the first list of 29 candidates on Thursday, which included some controversial constituencies like Rampur, Phoolpur, Allahabad and Lucknow. The SP has, so far, released the list of candidates for 46 seats out of a total of 80 in UP. Not only is the Congress irked at the SP’s unilateral announcement but it is also upset over its decision to field filmstar Sanjay Dutt as its candidate from Lucknow. Dutt’s family has a long association with the Congress - his father Sunil Dutt was a senior Congress leader while his sister is a party MP from Mumbai.
For the record, however, Digivijay Singh maintained that all is not lost yet. “I am not ruling out an alliance though there could be friendly contests on some seats on which there is no agreement,” Singh said.
Although Singh continued to hold out hope, Congress leaders said the SP’s announcements were being viewed seriously by the party leadership. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, UP Congress chief, has been summoned to Delhi for urgent consultations while Digivijay Singh is slated to discuss this matter with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the earliest.
The proposed alliance has sparked off a serious debate in the Congress. One section in the party feels such a pact will help the Mayawati’s BSP as it will give the impression that she is being hounded while the counter view, held by the candidates, is that the anti-BSP-BJP vote will get consolidated if the two tie up.
