Cong delays UP list as hope of alliance with Akhilesh grows

NEW DELHI: The Congress has postponed its first list of candidates for theUttarPradeshelectionsbecause of “some tangible forward movement” in its talks for an alliance with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP).

At the same time, the Congress has kept its “plan B” ready in case the negotiations break down over sharing of seats.

Akhilesh’s father and SP patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav, had walked out of the JD(U)-RJDCongress grand alliance before the 2015 Bihar elections following differences over the number of seats given to his party to contest. The anti-BJP coalition won the polls.

The Congress’s central leadership hopes that an alliance with Akhilesh could be formalised soon and a tie-up would help both parties. The national party has been relegated to the state’s political margins after being voted out of power in 1989, while the SP is battling a bitter family feud with Akhilesh on one side and his father and uncle on the other.

The Congress is identifying and shortlisting its contestants for all the 403 seats in the assembly. The seven-phase staggered elections in UP will begin on February 11. Party sources indicated that backchannel talks are moving in the “right direction” and a meeting between Akhilesh and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi might happen to seal the deal.

Besides, the Congress’s central electioncommitteeheadedbyparty president Sonia Gandhi will meet extensively on January 10 to finalise candidates for Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand.

The Congress poll panel is keeping UP out of the meeting’s agenda, hoping that an alliance with Akhilesh might work out.