Uttarpradesh, February 21: The Congress will contest 17 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and the remaining 63 seats will be for Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and other alliance partners of the INDIA bloc.
“I am delighted to tell you that it has been decided that in Uttar Pradesh the INC will contest on 17 seats and the remaining 63 seats will have candidates from the INDIA Alliance – from SP and other parties,” Congress Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande said while addressing a press conference on Wednesday.
The announcement comes as the first major seat-sharing deal between Opposition-led INDIA bloc, which was formed in June, last year, to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As per the agreement, Congress will field candidates on its strongholds — Raebareli and Amethi.
Additionally, the party will also contest Lok Sabha seats of Kanpur Nagar, Fatehpur Sikri, Basgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki, and Deoria.
Notably, Congress will also field its candidate on Varanasi seat, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh was finalized following Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s meeting with Akhilesh Yadav to break the weeks-long deadlock between the two parties.
Following his meeting with Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav confirmed that an alliance between the Samajwadi Party and Congress will happen in Uttar Pradesh.
“All is well that ends well…there is no dispute…there will be an alliance,” Akhilesh Yadav said when asked about his absence from Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Sources told India Today TV Priyanka Gandhi was the architect of the seat-sharing deal. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra initiated the conversation and spoke to Akhilesh Yadav after discussing the matter with Rahul Gandhi, they said.
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