Lucknow: Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, who once described themselves as “two wheels of a cycle” and “the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna”, seem to be going their own separate ways.
Yadav, the Samajwadi Party chief, on Tuesday ruled out an alliance with the Congress party for the 2019 election, for now, and said his only priority at the time was to strengthen his own party.
Saying that tying up with Congress did not reap any benefit in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Akhilesh pointed out that had there been any alliance, the two parties would have also fought the civic elections together.
The SP-Congress combine was trounced in the 2017 state elections, with the BJP and its allies winning 325 seats in the 403-member House. While SP got 47 seats, the Congress won seven.
“Right now it is time to strengthen the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. We are on good terms with Rahul Gandhi ji, but we definitely do not have any alliance for the polls, as of now,” he told News18.
Terming the process of talks and seat negotiations a waste of time, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, who had tied up with the Congress for the assembly elections in 2017, said he is not thinking of alliance with any party.
The decision was taken after he held a crucial meeting with heads of the districts, along with candidates who lost their elections. According to sources, a large section of the party agreed with Mulayam Singh Yadav that the party did not get any benefit politically from its alliance with the Congress, and hence, should go solo for 2019 polls.
In this meeting, feedback was taken from the district presidents and office bearers of those seats, where the party had to face defeat and the seats in which the party did not field candidates because of the coalition. However, the party has not completely closed the door on an alliance.
Suggesting that the party could bargain at a later stage if an alliance materialises, he said his style of politics is different and he is open to "friendships" with like-minded parties.
“There is time before the elections. The Lok Sabha polls are in 2019. We are presently working on each seat, going through local equations for selection of candidates," he said.
Senior Samajwadi party leaders Ramgopal Yadav, ex-minister Ahmed Hasan, RK Chaudhary who had recently switched over from BSP, Balram Yadav, SP vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda, Rajendra Chaudhary and Ram Govind Chaudhary were also present in the meeting.
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