Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has held meetings with the leaders of smaller Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh in the past few days amid a push to secure a larger share of seats from the Samajwadi Party for the upcoming polls.
Swami Prasad Maurya of the Apni Janata Party, Sanjay Chauhan of the Janwadi Party (Socialist), representing the OBC Chauhan community, and Pankaj Niranjan of Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) have reportedly asked the Congress to accommodate them within its seat share as part of an alliance with the SP.
After his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, Swami Prasad Maurya said that his party will join the INDIA bloc and that discussions on seats will take place at a later stage.
These smaller parties were once aligned with the SP, but Akhilesh Yadav is keeping a distance from them this time. According to a report by India Today, Congress plans to bring leaders from different castes, groups and those with local influence into its fold and wants their strong leaders to contest on its symbol.
The report suggests that Maurya has demanded 12 seats from Congress to contest on its own symbol.
Congress is drawing attention from smaller parties, but their inclusion will largely depend on the number of seats Congress gets to contest. While SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has rejected reports of differences over seat allocation, his party MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel had asked Congress to 'feel happy' with 50 seats to contest in the 403-seat battle even as Congress leaders pushed for at least 150 seats.
Akhilesh himself is reported to have asked the Congress to field candidates who are capable of winning the elections.
The seat-sharing is likely to get more complicated before final settlement between the two parties, as UP Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam has upped the ante, demanding about 200 seats.
While speaking to ANI, Gautam said, "Who asked for 150 seats? I had actually spoken about 200. I have maintained from the very beginning that there must be equal respect and an equal share. After all, the Congress party is the country's oldest and largest party."
"We can only win if we get seats. We can only win if we contest the election. Does anyone ever win without fighting elections?" he added.