INDIA Alliance / The tussle lasted for 40 days... understand the mathematics of Congress getting 17 seats in UP

INDIA Alliance: Seats have been divided between Samajwadi Party and Congress. After 40 days of discussion and tussle, ups and downs, twists and sharp statements, an agreement was reached between the two parties. Priyanka Gandhi is being considered the main reason behind this. It is even being claimed that Priyanka Gandhi played a very important role in seat sharing. He first talked to Rahul Gandhi and then talked to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on phone. As a result, SP gave 17 seats to Congress.

The seat sharing formula in the SP-Congress alliance was formally announced by SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary and UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey in Lucknow on Wednesday. However, it is believed that an agreement had already been reached between the two parties on 63 seats for SP and 17 seats for Congress. The brainstorming was going on only on which 17 seats would be given to Congress. There was a complete mathematics behind this. Its hallmark is the Varanasi seat on which SP had made Surendra Patel its candidate a day earlier, but now it is in Congress's account.

This is the mathematics of 17 seats in Congress's account.

Amethi – This is a traditional seat of Congress, it was already decided that if there is an alliance between SP and Congress, then this seat will go to Congress. Rahul Gandhi has been contesting elections from this seat, although he lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2019, but this time again the discussion has started about him contesting from Amethi.

Rae Bareli - Congress also considers this as its traditional seat, Sonia Gandhi has been MP from here for four consecutive times, before this only the Gandhi family or her close relatives have been contesting elections from this seat. This time after Sonia Gandhi's election as Rajya Sabha member, Priyanka Gandhi can contest from here.

Varanasi: This is considered an important seat of Uttar Pradesh, from which Congress state president Ajay Rai has contested the elections, a day before SP had made Surendra Patel its candidate from here. Now this seat is in the account of Congress.

Saharanpur: Congress leader Imran Masood has contested elections from this seat, Samajwadi Party has vacated this seat for Congress.

Amroha: Samajwadi Party has also given this seat to Congress, last time Danish Ali of BSP had won the elections from here, now he has been thrown out of the party, but his closeness to Congress is well known. Danish Ali also met Rahul Gandhi after the remarks made by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri in Parliament.

Kanpur: This seat of Central UP is considered very important in the politics of UP. Last time Congress candidate Shriprakash Jaiswal stood second from here, hence Congress is seeing hope here.

Fatehpur Sikri: Like Kanpur, in Fatehpur Sikri too, Congress candidate Raj Babbar was at second position, Congress is hopeful that this time this seat can come in its account.

Ghaziabad: Samajwadi Party has given this seat of Western Uttar Pradesh to Congress. Here, Congress stood third in the 2019 elections.

Barabanki: Here also in the 2019 elections, the Congress candidate stood third, he had secured 1 lakh 59 thousand votes in the elections.

Maharajganj: Maharajganj seat has also come to the account of Congress, this seat had gone to the account of Congress in 2009, in that election Harsh Vardhan had won from here.

Prayagraj: This has also been an old seat of Congress, many stalwarts of Congress including former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri have won elections from here.

Apart from this, Congress has also won the seats of Deoria, Bansgaon, Sitapur, Bulandshahr, Jhansi and Mathura. These are those seats where Congress has been at second or third position. The party is hopeful of winning all these seats this time.

The tussle was going on for 40 days

The first formal meeting was held on January 9 regarding the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Congress. At that time, SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav had reached the house of Congress leader Mukul Wasnik for talks. After this, a second meeting was held between the leaders of both the parties on January 17. However, no concrete result could be achieved. This was happening because Congress was demanding more seats. Later, the date of the meeting was fixed on January 31, but before that Akhilesh Yadav had offered 11 seats. Since then, it was being discussed that nothing was being decided regarding the alliance between the two parties. However, TV9 had made it clear a day before that talks are going on between the two parties and seat sharing is in the final stages.