As Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) prepares to leave the INDIA bloc and re-join the BJP-led NDA and the Congress tries to placate Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Saturday sprang a surprise unilaterally announcing 11 seats for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. Caught off guard, the Congress said seat-sharing talks with the SP are still on.

The Congress, sources said, was hoping to get 15-16 seats in UP and Yadav’s announcement is seen as a bid to force the Congress’s hand and make it give one seat to the SP in Madhya Pradesh. A senior SP functionary told The Indian Express: “If the Congress presents the names of winnable candidates on some more seats, we will certainly consider giving those seats.”

Among the seats the Congress would contest as of now include Amethi and Rae Bareli, which have once been Congress bastions; Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Bareilly.

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress contested 67 of the 80 seats but could win only one (Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli) and registered a meagre 6.36 per cent vote share across the state.

The SP and the BSP had fought together and brought the BJP’s figure down from 71 to 62. Under their arrangement, the BSP contested in 38 seats and the SP 37. While the BSP won 10 seats with a vote share of 19.43 per cent, the SP could win only five with a vote share of 18.11 per cent.

Sources in the SP said the party has demanded one Lok Sabha seat from the Congress in Madhya Pradesh to contest in alliance. “We have asked the Congress to give either Khajuraho or Tikamgarh. The Congress lost these seats by a margin of more than 3 lakh votes in 2019 and the SP had finished third securing over 40,000 votes…,” an SP leader said.

“Our cordial alliance with Congress is making a good start with 11 strong seats… This trend will move forward with the winning equation. ‘India’ team and ‘PDA (Pichada (backwards), Dalits and Alpasankhyaks (minorities)’, ‘ strategy will change history,” Yadav said in a post on X. He did not reveal the names of the seats.

Significantly, Yadav’s announcement came a day after he said the responsibility of holding together the Opposition alliance rested squarely on the shoulders of the Congress.

Responding to Yadav, Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh talks are still on between the SP and the Congress and that senior Congress Ashok Gehlot was in touch with Yadav.

“…discussions are proceeding in a positive manner. We will announce when the seat- sharing formula is finalised. Since Yadav himself has given the news today…that the discussions are on and he was happy with the discussions…I want to say on behalf of my party that Gehlot and Yadav are in touch…they will meet soon… the agreement will be beneficial for SP, Congress and the INDIA bloc.”

“When the talks are completed…when the picture becomes clear…then only I will be able to say what the formula is,” he said.

This was echoed by Congress’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Rai. He said the Mukul Wasnik-led national alliance committee of Congress will decide. “The dialogue is going on in a very positive atmosphere and this is going to give a good and strong result very soon,” he said.

Sources in the SP, however, said Yadav’s announcement came after his recent discussion with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Gehlot.

“The Congress was demanding more than 20 seats. But the SP had earlier agreed to give eight seats. It was decided that if the Congress insisted on more seats, its top leaders would have a conversation with Akhilesh Yadav. That conversation happened in the past few days and 11 seats have been finalised for the Congress,” said a SP leader.

As for its demand for a seat in MP, a senior SP leader said: “Talks between the SP and Congress for an alliance for the Assembly elections failed due to local Congress unit leaders. By choosing Mohan Yadav as chief minister of MP, the BJP has targeted the Yadav vote bank both in Bihar and UP. If Congress gives one seat to SP to contest in MP, Akhilesh will campaign there in a bid to give a message to the Yadav voters.”

Yadav’s announcement comes a week after the SP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), also an INDIA bloc member, announced that the latter was going to contest in seven seats as part of seat-sharing arrangements.

The SP and Congress last fought an election together in Uttar Pradesh way back in the 2017 when Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi waged a high-voltage joint campaign in the Assembly elections. According to the then seat-sharing formula, the SP was to contest in 298 seats and the Congress 105.

But in many seats there were friendly fights. Finally, the SP fought in 311 seats, winning merely 47 securing a vote share of 21.82 per cent. The Congress ended up contesting in 114 seats but won just 7 with a vote share of 6.25 per cent.