Chhattisgarh polls: SP backs GGP chief as CM candidate

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party (SP) has tied up with the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) in Chhattisgarh and has backed its national president Heera Singh Markam as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.

In Rajasthan, the SP is going it alone as yet.SP president Akhilesh Yadav had earlier announced the party’s alliance with the GGP in Madhya Pradesh. Tanvir Khan, state president of GGP in Chhattisgarh, said the state had 90 assembly seats of which SP was likely to contest 20 while the GGP would contest the rest. “Akhilesh ji will campaign in Chhattisgarh. Dates will be finalised soon,” Khan said.

Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases –November 12 and November 20.

He said the SP had contested 2003, 2008, and 2013 assembly polls without luck but this time the party was in a better position in view of the alliance. Meanwhile in Rajasthan, where the SP had won one seat in 2008, the party will contest nearly half of the total 200 seats. Rajasthan will go to polls on December 7. Rajasthan state SP chief Mukesh Yadav said: “We are clear that there will not be any alliance with the Congress. We are going solo here as of now. The final decision will be taken by the SP president. We are hopeful of winning more seats this time. I am also contesting.”

Of the three states, SP is focusing the most on MP. Akhilesh has already announced the first list of candidates for the state. The party has announced it will contest on 24 seats, though originally it was planning to contest all 230 seats. The SP is keen on spreading its wings as part of its ambition to ensure national status. Since its inception in 1992, the SP has been a regional party but Akhilesh said in January he would like to make the SP a national party.