Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance on cards? Akhilesh due to meet Rahul Gandhi next week

Lucknow: Despite a bitter power struggle in Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh's ruling party is inching closer to forming an electoral alliance with Congress and a deal is likely to be sealed next week.

According to a Times of India report, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is due to meet Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi next week where the two leaders are likely to seal a pact on contesting the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The prospects of an alliance with Congress has brightened after Akhilesh was declared the party president due to reported overwhelming support of his party MLAs and office bearers, overriding Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav recently.

In the ongoing family feud, Akhilesh has clearly gained an upper hand against his father Mulayam Singh, who had sacked him and his cousin Ram Gopal over alleged anti-party activities.

Akhilesh, who is due to meet Rahul on January 9, will possibly explore the possibility of contesting assembly polls together with Congress and is also likely to involve Priyanka Gandhi in the deliberations.

According to Samajwadi Party insiders, Congress is expected to contest on 90-105 seats in partnership with SP in the upcoming polls.

The Akhilesh-Rahul meeting gains urgency after the Election Commission announced the schedule for seven-phase polls in the state. 

Akhilesh has also reportedly spoken to Priyanka and the meeting will take place soon after Rahul returns from his overseas trip over the weekend.

Interestingly, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has ruled out any alliance with any party for UP 2017 polls.

However, it is clear that if the SP family feud is not resolved, Congress will go with the Akhilesh faction that is seen to command the loyalty of a majority of SP MLAs and MLCs.

The SP-Congress combine is expected to bring about a greater consolidation of Muslim voters that should boost the allies in terms of countering Mayawati's BSP which has made an aggressive pitch to the minority community.

Mayawati has decided to field as many as 97 Muslim candidates of a total of 401, the highest number fielded by any party in UP so far. 

The alliance will, Congress and SP members hope, reassure voters that the regional party's core Yadav-Muslim combination is intact.

It remains to be seen if this will pull in swing voters in the face of BJP's campaign that SP's preoccupation with family feuds amounts to a disinterest in governance. 

Akhilesh, on the other hand, had presented himself as an alternative to SP's traditional dependence on "strongmen" and aggression.

At several public appearances recently, Akhilesh has said SP will benefit from an alliance, and that such a combine would deliver more than 300 seats.