The Congress and Samajwadi Party – perpetually in an on again off again relationship – are now bickering over seat share in Uttar Pradesh. Reason – the Congress’s ambition to stop playing second fiddle to Akhilesh Yadav’s party and to stitch a rainbow coalition of smaller parties, taking a page out of the BJP handbook.
It provided the party the key to caste engineering that provided huge dividends. During the last election, the BJP had stitched together a coalition with smaller parties like the Nishad Party, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and a few others. The Congress appears to have learnt its lesson well. Sources indicated that parties including Swami Prasad Maurya’s group and the Nishad Party are in contact with the Congress. Many leaders believe that the party is at the forefront of the battle against the BJP — be it the last general election or issues like vote theft — and is taking on the BJP directly.
Coalitions with smaller parties – mostly non-Yadav OBCs and Dalit-focused smaller parties — in Uttar Pradesh have been the secret of the BJP’s massive success in 2017 and 2022. The party is now demanding 200 of the state’s 403 seats — mostly to distribute to smaller parties that are ready to join hands. During the 2022 assembly elections, Swami Prasad Maurya quit the BJP to contest on a Samajwadi Party ticket from Fazilnagar (where he lost), while the Nishad Party contested in alliance with the BJP, winning six seats.
Essentially, the Congress feels it needs to break out of the “younger brother” role in Uttar Pradesh, indicated sources in the party.
