The Hindu : Front Page : Congress, SP discuss U.P. seat-sharing

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Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008
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Congress, SP discuss U.P. seat-sharing

Special Correspondent

Rahul participates in talks

NEW DELHI: The Congress and the Samajwadi Party on Monday took forward their decision to have an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls, by holding talks on a seat-sharing arrangement in Uttar Pradesh. The SP sought to enlarge the understanding to four other States.

“There is an agreement on who will contest a majority of seats. On those seats on which there was no agreement, we will hold further discussions,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh told journalists here.

Mr. Singh was among the Congress team of negotiators that included Amethi MP and general secretary Rahul Gandhi and U.P. Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi. The SP was represented by senior leaders Ramgopal Yadav and Amar Singh.

The Congress leader said both parties made an assessment on the basis of new boundaries of the constituencies following delimitation.

He said it was not a question of an SP or Congress candidate but of how both parties could together win more seats from U.P. that elects 80 members.

Reiterating that the Congress did not approach the talks with any pre-conceived notion, Mr. Singh said besides winnability, the parties looked at the image of the prospective candidates. “We want the best candidate to contest,” he said.

He refused to divulge details of the number of seats the Congress or the SP was likely to contest, saying the disclosure would not be in the interest of either party.

Asked whether the Congress discussed the cases of Raj Babbar and Beni Prasad Verma, who were once associated with the Samajwadi Party and now considered close to the Congress, Mr. Singh said they were among those discussed.

Next round

The next round of talks would be held on September 8, he said, adding that the effort was to finalise the list of candidates by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, U.P. Congress vice-president and spokesperson Vijay Khaira said the agreement was that a broad list of possible candidates from all constituencies would be prepared for discussion at the next meeting.

He said that besides data, vote share in previous elections and the social structure, image and popularity of the candidate would be the deciding factors.

Mr. Amar Singh said just as the Congress was seeking more seats in U.P., the SP asked that it be accommodated in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.

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