Gonda, Aug 10 (IANS) BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Monday said that Congress has no independent political standing in Uttar Pradesh and could gain electorally only by entering into an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP).
His remarks came as the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections draw closer, with Congress pushing for an early beginning to seat-sharing discussions with its ally, the SP.
Congress has maintained that the alliance should be structured around “winnable” seats rather than being decided solely on the basis of the number of constituencies contested by each party.
Speaking to IANS, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said, “They have no standing of their own. They can win only a few seats by riding on the Samajwadi Party’s shoulders. And Congress has no standing of its own in Uttar Pradesh. Now, if they contest as part of an alliance, they may benefit somewhat.”
The SP, however, chose not to comment on Singh’s remarks. SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav, when asked about the BJP leader’s statement, said, “What can we comment on that? I have nothing to say.”
Congress has recently indicated that it intends to approach the upcoming Assembly polls with a renewed focus on its organisational position and its relationship with the SP.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, who was recently appointed as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, had said that the party would contest the upcoming Assembly election with “equality and respect”.
The two parties have previously shared an electoral alliance in Uttar Pradesh.
However, the SP and Congress contested the 2022 Assembly election separately after their alliance in the 2017 polls, built around the slogan “UP ke do ladke” (Uttar Pradesh’s two boys), failed to deliver the expected results. The slogan was an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Under the 2017 alliance arrangement, the Congress was allotted 106 of Uttar Pradesh’s 403 Assembly seats. However, the party managed to win only seven constituencies.
In the 2022 Assembly election, when the Congress contested independently, its tally fell further, with the party winning just two seats.
The political equation between the Congress and SP in Uttar Pradesh, however, witnessed a significant shift following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The two parties contested the parliamentary polls together and secured a combined 43 of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats.
The 2024 Lok Sabha election performance consequently changed perceptions about the electoral strength of the Congress-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh and revived discussions about the possibility of the two parties working together in the 2027 Assembly elections.
–IANS
sd/