From Congress bastion, Akhilesh sets alliance terms: Seats based on who can win

As he launched his party’s UP Assembly election campaign from Raebareli — the Lok Sabha constituency of his alliance partner Rahul Gandhi — Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday clearly spelled out that while the electoral tie-up with the Congress would continue, the seat-sharing agreement would be determined by “winnability”.

Addressing supporters during his PDA Rath Yatra in Raebareli, Akhilesh said, “Gathbandhan bhi hoga, gathbandhan ke saath challenge bhi… Baat humare liye seat ki nahi hogi, jeetne wali seat ki hogi. Jo jite who seat le le. (“There will be an alliance, and there will also be challenges with it. For us, it will not be about seats but about winnability — whoever can win a seat should get it).

The Congress and SP had come together for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, and the alliance improved its tally substantially compared to their 2022 Assembly poll performance, when they contested separately.

“Whoever can win a seat should get that seat,” he asserted. “We defeated them in 2024 and in 2027 we will work for their (BJP) permanent defeat,” the former CM added.

The SP chief also sought to set the social and political line for the next year’s elections, framing the contest as one between the BJP and the SP’s PDA — an acronym the party uses for its social coalition of pichhda (Backwards), Dalits and alpasankhyak (minorities).

Seeking to broaden the PDA by including women, he said, “A in alpasankhyak is — a Muslim, Parsi, Buddhist, Sikh, aur aadhi abaadi bhi hai.”

He referred to an alleged incident in Ghazipur involving a Vishwakarma family and also against a Bind youth, saying the SP would work to ensure justice for members of these communities – “be it Vishwakarmas, Lodhs, Pasis”.

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He alleged that members of PDA communities were being selectively targeted through administrative action, including the use of bulldozers, while people belonging to communities associated with the ruling establishment were treated differently.

Asserting that the struggle against inequality was continuing, he said the PDA electorate had become conscious of its political strength. “The line is absolutely clear this time.”

The SP chief said those pursuing the “bulldozer politics” would not be able to escape the PDA movement, asserting that this time the electoral verdict would not merely defeat them but would “demolish” and permanently eliminate such negative politics.

He linked the 2027 election to the SP’s performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, saying the party had defeated the BJP in 2024 and would work for its “safaya” in 2027.

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He also invoked the party’s PDA Rath, saying the chariot symbolised the battlefield of Kurukshetra and referred to the Mahabharata and Lord Krishna’s teachings in the Bhagavad Gita.

The SP chief also criticised the BJP over alleged demolition of religious structures in Kashi and Saharanpur, accusing it of pursuing communal politics and attempting to weaken social harmony.

On the political contest in Raebareli, he referred to the September 17 incident involving SP supporters and BJP-linked workers. “It used to be said that in Raebareli the contest is between the PDA and BJP, but has it become Lodh versus (CM) Yogi (Adiyanath),” he asked.

Referring to students who, according to him, had confronted people associated with the BJP during the recent incident, the SP chief congratulated them and accused the BJP of resorting to “negative politics”. “While we do positive politics, BJP does negative politics,” he said, alleging that the government uses the administration when it begins to lose political ground.

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Earlier in the day, SP MLA from Bachhrawan Assembly constituency Shyam Sundar Bharti sought to assert the SP’s claim over Raebareli, dismissing the constituency as a “Congress bastion”.

“Congress bastion, what Congress bastion? In 2022, we won four seats. So in the Assembly election, this is just a Samajwadi Party bastion and no one else,” Bharti said.

He added that the party had lost two seats by narrow margins in the 2022 Assembly elections and claimed that, but for those margins, the SP would have won all six Assembly seats in the district.

‘No trust in EC… had vote chori not taken place in 2022 polls, SP would have won’

Akhilesh also accused the Election Commission of facilitating the “vote theft” of the PDA bloc in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

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He alleged that the EC had lost the confidence of people and claimed that had the alleged “vote theft” not taken place in 2022, the Samajwadi Party would have formed the government in Uttar Pradesh.

“The Election Commission has been exposed and has worked like a puppet. Such a low level of work may never have happened in a democracy. Now, there is no trust in the Election Commission,” Akhilesh said.

He alleged that the BJP was using the election machinery because it knew that people would not vote for it on issues such as inflation.

He also touched upon the proposed Uniform Civil Code in his address and said it should be preceded by efforts to ensure equality among citizens.

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He said PDA members were fighting to “save the Constitution, democracy and reservation” and accused the BJP of not believing in the Constitution. “We say first make the citizens equal; first, let all of us become one. When everyone’s respect becomes equal, then bring laws to increase that respect and take people forward,” he said. He also accused the state government of shutting primary schools while opening liquor shops and said schools that had been closed would be reopened under an SP government.—With PTI Inputs