2014 elections: Samajwadi Party not to file candidates against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has said his party will not put up candidates against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul in the next general elections, indicating that relations between the two sides, although seemingly slightly frayed in recent months, were not beyond repair.

The SP chief said on Thursday that the Congress had not put up candidates against him in 2009 and his party would reciprocate the gesture by not fielding candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the traditional seats of the Gandhi family. CM Akhilesh Yadav, who was sitting next to Mulayam when he made this statement, too nodded in agreement.

A month ago, Congress general secretary for UP, Madhusudan Mistry, said that his party may put up candidates against Mulayam and Akhilesh. Soon after his comments, the SP leadership too made a similar comment, with senior leader Ram Gopal Yadav indicating that his party too might consider putting up candidates against the Gandhi family.