Lucknow: Buoyed up by its recent victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh are now looking to expand their vote base by bringing in ‘more influential leaders’.
The INDIA bloc members are clearly eyeing Azad Samaj Party MP Chandrashekhar Azad who registered a spectacular win from the Nagina reserved seat on his own.
While Chandrashekhar won his Nagina seat, another Azad Samaj Party (ASP) candidate Amar Singh Chaudhary in Domariyaganj ranked at the third position.
The BSP in both constituencies ranked at the fourth position with 1.33 per cent votes in Nagina and 3.5 per cent votes in Domariyaganj.
“The fact is that Chandrashekhar has emerged as an alternative to Mayawati and her BSP in these elections. His acceptability among Dalit youth has increased substantially and the Dalit votes are rapidly veering towards him from the BSP. We would definitely like to bring (ASP) into the INDIA bloc so that our position gets stronger before the next assembly polls in UP in 2027,” said a senior Samajwadi Party functionary.
Chandrashekhar, it may be recalled, was brought in to meet SP President Akhilesh Yadav by RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary who was then in alliance with SP.
However, he was left to fend for himself when Jayant Chaudhary walked across to join the NDA.
Akhilesh did not continue his relationship with Chandrashekhar after being ‘betrayed’ by RLD.
Rahul Gandhi, however, was among the first leaders to call up Chandrashekhar when the latter’s convoy was fired upon in June last year.
According to sources, Chandrashekhar has already started working to build up his party organisation and is preparing to contest assembly elections.
The SP and Congress have indicated that their alliance would continue and now there will be seat-sharing between the two in by-polls too.
“The alliance will continue. Will be in play in the forthcoming by-polls also. And there will be seat-sharing discussions,” said UP Congress President Ajay Rai.
SP national secretary and party’s chief spokesperson, Rajendra Chaudhary said: “Yes, the alliance continues and there will be seat-sharing between the SP and Congress in the by-polls as well”.
SP sources said that if Chandrashekhar agrees to join the INDIA bloc, the formation could get greater strength.
“Dalits will now go with Chandrashekhar because Mayawati has already slipped into political oblivion. If he joins us, the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpasankhyak) formula will become stronger and the 2027 polls will bring good news for the INDIA bloc,” said an SP functionary.
