Does Akhilesh Yadav want to wipe out the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh? Is the Samajwadi Party chief starting to feel threatened by the Congress party’s growing popularity? Does the former Uttar Pradesh CM think the rise of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh will end his political career? All these questions have been doing the rounds in Uttar Pradesh political circles ever since Akhilesh Yadav said that the Indian Union will contest all 9 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh under the banner of Samajwadi Party. However, while saying this, Akhilesh used very kind language towards the Congress in his postscript. But the people of Uttar Pradesh know what kind of agitation has been created over the past few days over the issue of seat allocation for by-elections. Akhilesh Yadav deliberately played such a trick to leave Congress with no option but to retreat. Many politicians said Akhilesh Yadav’s move created trouble for the Congress.
In fact, the Congress party, which has become very powerful in the country, is also making rapid inroads among its old core voters in Uttar Pradesh. It seems natural that Akhilesh would be scared after seeing even unknown Congress candidates getting huge votes in the Lok Sabha elections. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is like a sleeping animal and if it wakes up, parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Samajwadi Party will cease to exist.
Congress Party’s performance in Lok Sabha elections
Even before the Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh Yadav adopted the same strategy of sharing his seat with the Congress, which he had adopted for some time in the Assembly by-elections. Akhilesh Yadav keeps announcing party candidates on his behalf without the consent of the Congress. and proposed names for the remaining seats in Congress. He did the same thing in the Lok Sabha elections. Apart from Amity and Ray Bareilly, there are no seats in the Lok Sabha that give either the Congress or the Socialist Party the power to win. A total of 17 seats have been allocated in this way, one of which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seat in Varanasi, from where defeat is a sure thing.
Despite this, the Congress won 6 seats and narrowly missed out on 6 seats. In Bansgaon, Congress candidate Sardar Prasad’s victory was limited to 3,150 votes. As a result, 12 of the total 17 seats in the Congress have performed very well. Smriti Irani lost to Amethi by a huge margin of about 167,000 votes. This failure was more than that. It simply means that Congress gets votes from various sectors. Similarly, Rahul Gandhi also defeated Dinesh Pratap Singh, a minister in the UP government from Rae Bareli, by about 2.90 lakh votes. The Congress victory in Sitapur, Barabanki, Saharanpur and Prayagraj was spectacular. Even Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi themselves had no idea that the Congress would be so successful. Congress turnout was also higher in Uttar Pradesh compared to 2014 and 2019.
SP and Congress have the same products and the same customers.
Apparently, Akhilesh Yadav must have realized that if the Congress’s roots were not severed, it could regain its footing. It is natural for them to think so because the Samajwadi Party today has lost its foothold in Uttar Pradesh to the Congress. Earlier, the Congress used to keep aside the votes of Muslims and Dalits when talking about secularism, but since the 90s, under the same guise of secularism, the SP has created an equation between Muslims and backward classes. The Lok Sabha elections showed that Dalit and Muslim voters are once again turning towards the Congress. This feedback must have been sent to Akhilesh Yadav as well. In the PDA that Akhilesh talks about, will he continue to see Dalits and minorities in Congress? Only one person can raise the banner of secularism in UP. The command currently rests with Akhilesh. Even though he is considered as the flag bearer of the Indian Union.
Why does Akhilesh seem to do all this on purpose?
If Akhilesh Yadav wanted to give some seats to the Congress, he would not have announced his candidate in the seats he had already won. If his intentions were clear, he would not announce candidates for any seats without talking to Congress. Congress is not a small party and deserves to be treated so unprofessionally. Congress has its own vote bank and Akhilesh Yadav will also benefit from it. But today, Akhilesh Yadav hopes that even if his candidate does not win, the Congress candidate should not win. He has reserved the Ghaziabad and Khel seats to the Congress. Anyone who knows Uttar Pradesh politics knows that not only the Congress but even the Samajwadi Party could not get these two seats. Akhilesh should provide at least 1 winning seat and 2 losing seats. But how can that happen when the Congress has no intention of expanding its presence in Uttar Pradesh?
Does Congress also want to show a mirror to Akhilesh?
There are also speculations that the Congress is deliberately abandoning bypoll seats. In fact, the Congress wants Akhilesh Yadav to look in the mirror too. In fact, this was necessary to control Akhilesh Yadav’s flight. If the Congress does not support Akhilesh Yadav in the by-elections, it could be detrimental to the Samajwadi Party. If Congress had shown more courage and fielded candidates, Akhilesh Yadav would have known the strength of his party. In fact, the Congress party also contributed to the Dalit votes secured by the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha elections. Both Dalits and Muslims will return to their parent party, the Congress. If the Congress candidate also stands in front of the Samajwadi Party, more than half of the Muslim and Dalit votes will go to the Congress. This is what troubles Akhilesh.
