Even as INDIA bloc constituents Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) walk a tightrope on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh, the alliance’s third partner Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is unhappy about the lack of clarity about which seats it will be contesting. The SP and the RLD on January 19 worked out a seat-sharing agreement, with the Jayant Chaudhary-led party getting seven.

Though the RLD has refrained from commenting on seat-sharing, party leaders told The Indian Express that it would side with the SP if talks between the Congress and the Akhilesh Yadav-led party fail.

“Despite what happens between the Congress and the SP, we will continue our alliance with the SP as going with the Congress, which lacks a voter base in the state, will not be beneficial for us. Jayant ji and Akhilesh ji have refused to release which seats the RLD will get and this has resulted in some anxiety among leaders who are preparing to contest on the RLD symbol,” said a senior RLD leader.

Another party leader said an understanding had been reached on some constituencies. “We are sure we will get Baghpat and Mathura. But for seats such as Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Nagina, Agra and Hathras, there is no certainty. Hence, the candidates there are not sure about whether to keep their options open or not,” said the RLD functionary.

But RLD national general secretary Anupam Mishra told The Indian Express that the party cadre was working on all seats and such issues do not affect them. “No matter which seats we get, we are preparing on the ground and that’s what matters,” he said.

The SP and the Congress are facing hiccups on a seat-sharing agreement. The grand old party this week said it felt blindsided after the SP announced a list of 16 candidates, some of which the Congress was expecting to get. Relations between the two parties have been tense as the SP had also “surprised” the Congress by announcing that 11 seats would be left aside for it. The Congress insists that seat-sharing has yet to be finalised. All India Congress Committee (AICC) Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande said earlier this week that the Congress could look at “other options” and said those trying to create a “perception” against his party should know that “Congress vinamra reh sakti hai, sehyog kar sakti hai, lekin laachar nahi hai (Congress can be humble, it can give support, but it is not helpless)”.

Meanwhile, the SP played down the talk of displeasure in RLD ranks saying there is enough time to finalise which seats the RLD will contest. The party’s national spokesperson Rajendra Choudhary said the RLD was deciding its candidates and would reach a conclusion soon.

The SP and RLD have been allies in the state since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the Chaudhary-led party contested three seats as a part of the “mahagathbandhan”, of which the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also was a part. The SP contested 37 seats, of which it won five. In the 2022 Assembly elections, the SP-RLD coalition won 120 seats. While the SP won 111 of the 347 seats it contested, the RLD won nine of the 33 seats where it was in the fray.