While the INDIA alliance recorded its first success in seat-sharing talks in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) reaching an agreement, the main challenge remains a pact between the SP and the Congress and how this develops in the coming days will be closely tracked.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led party is not keen on giving the Congress the 20-plus seats that it wants in UP. In 2019, the Congress contested all 80 seats on its own and managed to win only one (Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli). This time, the party, as reported by Asad Rehman, has given the SP a list of 28 constituencies and is hopeful go getting around 25. The party won 21 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and has based its demand on this, believing it can repeat that performance. SP leaders told Asad that the Congress “is overplaying its hand” by asking for 28 seats.

At the first meeting between the two parties earlier this week, they decided that performance in the 2022 Assembly elections, their hold in specific seats as well as potential candidates will be among the major criteria based on which an agreement would be finalised. As Anjishnu Das explained in his Data Pack column this week, the numbers are on the SP’s side and by the logic of numbers, the Congress does not have much leg to stand on.

“Looking at the 2022 Assembly polls in terms of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, each of which comprises five to six Assembly segments, the INDIA bloc allies came out ahead of the NDA in only 23 seats, of which the SP won 20 on its own strength with the Congress’s votes making a difference in only 3 additional seats,” Anjishnu wrote.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday will hear an AAP councillor’s petition challenging the Chandigarh administration’s order postponing the mayoral elections to February 6. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, bitter rivals in Punjab and Delhi but attempting to come together on the INDIA alliance platform, have come together to contest the elections together. The Opposition parties had been hoping for the local election to set the stage for further alliance in Delhi, Punjab, and other states.

On PM Modi’s schedule

Two days before the Ram Mandir inauguration in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue his visits to temples with some connection to Hindu deity Ram. The PM who arrived in Chennai on Thursday evening to inaugurate the Khelo India Youth Games will visit the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Tiruchirappalli at around 11 am. According to a statement from the PMO, at the temple, Modi will listen to various scholars reciting verses from the Kamba Ramayanam.

At around 2 pm, the PM will arrive in Rameswaram for darshan and pooja at the Ramanathaswamy Temple. As during his temple visits the past few days, Modi will attend a programme at the temple during which eight traditional Mandalis will recite the Sanskrit, Awadhi, Kashmiri, Gurumukhi, Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, and Gujarati Ramkathas (recounting the episode of Ram’s return to Ayodhya). In the evening, the PM will participate in a “Bhajan Sandhya”, an event during which multiple devotional songs will be sung at the temple complex.

Where is the Congress yatra?

Meanwhile, the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to enter Arunachal Pradesh for a day. Rahul Gandhi, along with party leaders and workers, will cross over from Lakhimpur in neighbouring Assam and arrive in Doimukh in Arunachal’s Papum Pare district at around 2 pm. There, the Congress leader is scheduled to interact with the public at a local ground.

From Doimukh, Gandhi will travel by bus to Naharlagun, where he may interact with street vendors. The Congress leader will then travel to the town of Nyokum Lapang, near Itanagar. From there, the yatris will march to a government school ground in Itanagar, where Gandhi is scheduled to address a public rally. The Congress is also expected to address a press conference in the state Capital. The yatra will move back into Assam on Sunday.

— With PTI inputs