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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Three-cornered contest in making in Uttar Pradesh

With the Congress announcing its decision to contest in all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in this year’s Lok Sabha election and some small regional parties not averse to going along with the grand old party, a three-cornered contest seems to be in the making. 

Lok Sabha elections 2019: Three-cornered contest in making in Uttar Pradesh

(Photo: SNS/IANS)

With the Congress announcing its decision to contest in all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in this year’s Lok Sabha election and some small regional parties not averse to going along with the grand old party, a three-cornered contest seems to be in the making.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) alliance and the Congress constitute the three main adversaries in the forthcoming electoral contest.

After the SP-BSP poll pact was formalised by Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav last weekend, it was a foregone conclusion that the Congress would have to either go it alone or stitch an alliance with other parties, including Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

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Though the decision to go it alone in Uttar Pradesh was announced by AICC general secretary in charge of the state Ghulam Nabi Azad and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar in Lucknow on Sunday, a window has been left open for a possible poll arrangement.

Azad said at a press conference that the Congress will fight the BJP on its own, but is not averse to taking along any secular party.

The possibility of the Congress entering into a poll alliance with ‘like-minded’ parties gained credence with the PSPL president Shivpal Singh Yadav stating that his party is ready to clinch a poll pact with the Congress.

Shivpal, who has been highly critical of the SP-BSP alliance, has cautioned his nephew Akhilesh Yadav against BSP president Mayawati.

While Shivpal Singh Yadav has reportedly made his intensions clear, RLD chief Ajit Singh is still weighing his options. The RLD was demanding four seats from Akhilesh and Mayawati as a condition to become an alliance partner, but till now nothing has been made clear.

Even as the PSPL and RLD weighed their options, former Bihar deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Tejashwi Yadav, met the BSP chief late last night. He expressed his gratitude to Mayawati for forging an alliance with the SP. Tejashwi’s meeting with Mayawati lasted for about two hours.

Talking to newspersons after the meeting, Mayawati said it was necessary for the secular forces to join hands to defeat the BJP. On the possibility of an alliance in Bihar, she said it would be decided later.

Following his meeting with Mayawati last night, Tejashwi Yadav met the SP president on Monday. The RJD leader told press persons after the meeting that the SP-BSP alliance will decide the direction and fate of politics against the BJP. Stating that the RJD will support the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Tejwaswi Yadav said that the countdown of the BJP has started.

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