Worries mount as Congress-SP talks in UP hit a wall

Seat sharing talks between the Congress and Samajwadi Party in UP for the general elections have hit a wall, casting a serious shadow on the future of the alliance.

Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal however told media separately that discussions are going on and talks will be finalised at any point of time now.

Talks had been going on between the two INDIA bloc members for over a month. A day ago, Akhilesh Yadav said he will join Rahul Gandhi's Nyaya Yatra in Raebareli, scheduled for Tuesday, only once the talks were finalised, triggering hectic parlays between the two parties all of Monday, that went on till late night.


SP's final tally for Congress was 17 seats, six more than the 11 seats Akhilesh Yadav bad announced earlier. However, Congress was firm on getting Moradabad- where SP currently has a sitting MP , as well as Kheri. It is also learnt to have been wanting Dhaurahra in Shahjahanpur- seat of former Congress leader Jitin Prasada, however SP has already announced a candidate for the seat and was unwilling to cede. SP sources said they made some adjustments, for example, agreeing on giving Amroha to Congress, among others but Congress remained dissatisfied.

"Congress has closed talks from their front," a SP leader, aware of the talks, said.