Message to Congress? Akhilesh Yadav's 'victory, not seats' pitch ahead of UP polls

‘United effort must prevail’: Akhilesh Yadav says alliance victory matters over seats

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said the focus of the alliance should be on ensuring victory rather than negotiating the number of seats each party gets, amid discussions over seat-sharing.In a post on X, Yadav reiterated that the alliance should remain united and work towards a collective victory, while seeking to dismiss any differences over seat allocation."When the goal is clear, hand in hand we stand. When the gaze is fixed on the destination, the journey becomes easy! The big thing isn't how many seats the alliance gets or which seat goes to whom—the big thing is that we all must ensure that the victory belongs to the alliance.""Let us repeat again: It's not about the seats, it's about the victory.This victory will be greater than the parties in our alliance—it will be the victory of all of us, of that united effort that persists in struggle so that communalism may never raise its head again, so that BJP's influence may not touch democracy, the Constitution, or reservations, and so that the country's harmony may bloom once more, and the nation's progress and prosperity may smile again.

Victory to the Constitution—Victory to Hindustan!" he added.

Earlier on Saturday Yadav directed party leaders to keep their views on seat-sharing negotiations and the Congress within internal party channels, as differences over the alliance surfaced ahead of formal talks for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

The intervention came after public remarks by SP MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel, with Yadav seeking to ease the growing friction between the two INDIA bloc allies.Addressing reporters at an event in Lucknow, Yadav urged party leaders to refrain from airing their views publicly on the alliance and seat-sharing discussions.Uttar Pradesh is set to go to the polls in 2027, with the BJP and the Samajwadi Party expected to be the principal contenders.In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP retained power by winning 255 of the state’s 403 seats, securing a vote share of 41.29%.The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party finished second with 111 seats and 32.06% of the votes.The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress were reduced to single-digit tallies, winning one and two seats, respectively. The BSP secured 12.88% of the vote, while the Congress recorded a vote share of 2.33%.