Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has joined the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which is passing through Agra in Uttar Pradesh. This proposal comes a few days after the seat sharing agreement between SP and Congress. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who helped finalize the agreement between the two parties that was stuck for months, is also present at the spot.
This cordiality gives opposition group India some reason to be happy. Mr Yadav is one of the first major opposition leaders to join the massive march, which is expected to spread from west to east of the country before culminating in Mumbai.
Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from the rally as it passed through her state amid the latest controversy over seat distribution.
The Congress is attempting to bridge the gap with a new plan that underpins its ambitions in Bengal and offers seats to Trinamool in Assam and Meghalaya, where it has been the principal opposition party.
Earlier this week, after personally contacting Akhilesh Yadav, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had accepted SP’s offer of 17 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
In turn, the Congress gave another seat in Madhya Pradesh to the SP, leading to the default of its then state unit chief Kamal Nath, which jeopardized its pact with the party and the unity of the India Bloc.
In Uttar Pradesh, apart from its strongholds Rae Bareli and Amethi – which Rahul Gandhi lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019 – the Congress will also have to lead the challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his constituency Varanasi.
The other seats the party will contest includes Kanpur Nagar, Fatehpur Sikri, Basgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahar, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki, and Deoria.
The BJP had won 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, with its ally Apna Dal led by Anupriya Patel winning two seats.
In 2019, BJP’s voteshare increased, but the number of seats decreased. The party got only 62 seats. The Samajwadi Party won five seats, its then ally Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party won 10 seats and the Congress won only from Rae Bareli.
