Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance faces fresh strain as Akhilesh Yadav to skip INDI-alliance meet
Supposed differences over UP seat-sharing talks !!
'A vintage Mulayam of 1999 at display' -- the famous move of Samajwadi Party chief denied 'prime ministership' to Sonia Gandhi. The crystal clear message from Samajwadi Party that it cannot support a Sonia-led dispensation came within a few days Sonia made the now infamous claim - "We have 272, we will have more".
The Congress-led opposition required 272 magic number to form Govt after the Vajpayee Govt had 'fallen' by one vote in 1999. It was then Mulyam Singh Yadav (Akhilesh's father) threw the all important spanner.
Despite Akhilesh Yadav’s reiteration that the SP will contest the 2027 polls in alliance with the Congress, Rahul Gandhi or Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge have yet to announce it formally.
The Congress and parties like the 'on-decline outfits' such as one led Mamata Banerjee had hyped the Sept 30 opposition alliance meet to open a new front against the Election Commission.
But Akhilesh Yadav's absence gives other signals.
The SP chief - for eecords - cited pre-scheduled election commitments, his absence is being widely seen as a response to Congress’s “deliberate” delay in engaging in seat negotiations.
In 1999 - Late Amar Singh was very close to Mulayam
However, it is understood that Akhilesh does not have any “unavoidable” engagement, with only routine pre-election events lined up on Wednesday as per his itinerary.
As for claims that he was busy with the nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls, the notification for the elections was to be issued on September 29, while the last date for filing nominations was October 6.
Akhilesh’s move of skipping the INDI-alliance meeting convened by the Congress s seen as as the Samajwadi Party's tit-for-tat response to the Congress brass, which has been maintaining a conscious silence on seat-sharing talks.
Moreover, often adding insults to injuries Congress’s state functionaries continue to blame the SP for delay on seat sharing talks. The Congress leaders in UP said - the grand old party is preparing to contest all 403 seats in March 2027 in UP.
"But as an alliance partner we may settle for 150 seats," said a Congress leader. The claim has been reportedly dismissed by Akhilesh Yadav's party - which performed very well in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "Congress is day dreaming .. they can be given 50-60 seats," says a SP leader.
Despite Akhilesh Yadav’s reiteration that the SP will contest the 2027 polls in alliance with the Congress, Rahul Gandhi or Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge have yet to announce it formally.
When Mulayam dashed Sonia's prime ministerial hopes
Recall time : 1999
"We have 272 and we hope to get more, we are confident we will get more," Sonia Gandhi had now infamously told reporters at the Rashtrapati Bhawan after calling on the then President K R Narayanan.
However, Mulayam, whose 20 members in the Lok Sabha were crucial for the Congress to cross the majority mark, had different plans.
Mulayam Yadav did not want Sonia as the Prime Minister. He had instead proposed the name of CPI-M stalwart Jyoti Basu for the top post.
AIADMK chief Jayalalitha - who withdrew support to the Vajpayee government - also agreed to back Jyoti Basu even as she had met Sonia Gandhi (prior to withdrawal of support) at a tea party hosted by Dr Subramanian Swamy.
Sonia Gandhi's claim and big desire for forming a Congress-led Govt to replace the NDA had failed. Dr Swamy later blamed Arjun Singh for the flip-flop.
For his part, Mulayam Singh was categorical - "It cannot be a Congress-led dispensation. We should all get together and decide who should be the leader in New Delhi". But Amar Singh and others floated the name of Jyoti Basu.
But way back in 1996 -when Basu was apparently keen to take over the reins - his party politburo led by some hardliners like Prakash Karat disapproved the CPI-M joining or heading any Govt at the centre.
Basu himself later called it a "historic blunder".
In 1999 - Arjun Singh and others said it should be a Congress Govt and other non-Congress and non-NDA parties could support it from outside. Mulayam wanted a share in the ministry and despite meetings with CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet.
Slowly, the 'foreign origin' issue vis-a-vis Sonia Gandhi also surfaced in the corridors of power in Delhi.
A few weeks later Sharad Pawar, then the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, teamed up with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar and split the party on the issue of foreign origin of the Congress president Sonia.
Team 'Amar, Akbar, Anthony (Pawar, Tariq Anwar and P A Sangma) had raised the matter of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and pointed out that the Congress would not be able to counter the BJP - which was making Sonia's origin an election issue.
ends
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