Samajwadi Party won’t let Gandhis have free run in Rae Bareli, Amethi during next general elections

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party has dropped hints that it could put up candidates against Sonia Gandhi and her son and Congress Vice President Rahul in the next general elections.

"We will have no tie-ups with the Congress anywhere,” SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said in Lucknow in response to a question on whether his party would field candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi, long considered pocketboroughs of the Gandhi family.

The Amethi seat is held by Rahul Gandhi, while his mother represents Rae Bareilly. In the 2009 general elections, the SP did not field any candidates against the Gandhis, a gesture that was reciprocated by the Congress not putting up candidates against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav.

But the past few months have seen a widening gulf between between the two sides, which have openly sparred on a raft of issues ranging from national security to food security.

Congress General Secretary in charge of UP, Madhusudan Mistry, had said a few weeks ago that they might consider fielding candidates against Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav in the next elections.

The latest remarks of Ram Gopal Yadav, who is the younger brother of the SP supremo, have been interpreted to mean that the party was gearing up to field candidates against the Gandhi family members if the Congress does so against the Yadav family. The Samajwadi Party has announced candidates for most UP seats for the next elections, barring Amethi and Rae Bareilly.

Yadav also blasted the Congressled UPA government and said the country was facing an economic emergency because of the centre’s wrong policies. He said the UPA did not have answers to the economic problems it has created and people were left to face the consequences.