INDIA Allies Congress And SP Set for Face-off in Madhya Pradesh Polls after Seat-sharing Talks Fail – News18

The Congress and Samajwadi Party, both part of the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national bloc INDIA, would have confrontations on at least four assembly seats in the Madhya Pradesh (MP) elections as the seat-sharing talks between the two failed to reach any consensus. Both parties have now released separate lists of their candidates for the assembly polls in MP to be held on November 17. This, however, has raised questions about how the two parties would be able to agree on a seat-sharing formula for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The issue cropped up on Sunday after the Samajwadi Party (SP) declared the list of its nine candidates for the Madhya Pradesh elections. Among those on the list are MLA Meera Deepak Yadav from the Nirwadi assembly seat, Brajgopal Patel from Raj Nagar, DR Rahul from Bhander, Vishwanath Singh Markam from Dhauhani, Shravan Kumar Singh Gaur from Chitrangi, Lakshman Tiwari from Sirmaur, Manoj Yadav from Bijwar, Mahesh Sahare from Katangi, and Rampratap Singh Yadav from Sidhi.

Political observers said that the dispute between the two parties became visible soon after the SP released its list. “Of the total candidates, four SP candidates were announced from the same seats where the Congress has already declared its candidates in the list of 144 against the 230 assembly seats in MP,” said Shashikant Pandey, head of the political science department, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.

Pandey said that such differences may cause problems for the allies in the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Chitrangi, Medgaon, Bhander, and Raj Nagar are the assembly seats where both the Congress and SP have fielded their candidates. In 2018, the Congress had won all these seats, barring Chitrangi. Some SP leaders said that there is resentment among the senior party cadre as the Congress has also its candidate from the Bijawar assembly seat. The SP won this seat in the 2018 assembly polls. However, the SP has yet to declare its candidate for the Chhatarpur assembly seat.

Samajwadi Party insiders said that efforts were made to contact senior Congress leaders over the issue but due to a lack of communication, the talks failed to reach any conclusion after which the SP announced its candidates.

Senior SP leader Udaiveer Singh said that efforts were made to contact Congress leaders prior to declaring the list of candidates. However, due to a communication gap, the talks failed to reach any conclusion. He added that the alliance is for 2024 and in the state assembly polls, SP will be fighting on its own.

Udaiveer Singh said that SP is likely to contest around 30 to 40 seats out of MP’s 230 seats.

Ajay Rai, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief, said, “SP should support Congress, especially on the seats or regions considered among the strongholds of Congress, like what Congress did in the recent Ghosi bypoll in UP. The Ghosi bypoll is a glaring example as it is only because of Congress’s support that the SP candidate managed to win with such a huge margin. SP should strengthen Congress instead of making it weak.”