Lok Sabha Elections 2024: In Akhilesh Yadav's 17-Seat Offer To Congress, A Challenge For Samajwadi Party

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Samajwadi Party leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav has offered 17 seats to Congress. While Akhilesh Yadav faced a setback after Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal joined the BJP-led NDA, he has now offered some crucial seats to Congress. The SP was earlier willing to give 10-11 seats to Congress which it has revised to 17. While the Congress is yet to accept the offer and Yadav is likely to meet Rahul Gandhi today to discuss the alliance, let's tell you the strategy behind the SP offering 17 seats to Congress.

Which Are These 17 Seats?

The Samajwadi Party has offered Amethi, Raebareli, Varanasi, Baghpat, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Fatehpur Sikri, Hathras, Kanpur, Amroha, Saharanpur, Bulandshahar, Jhansi, Sitapur, Maharajganj, Kaisarganj and Barabanki to the Congress.

Why Only These 17 Seats?

These are the seats where the Samajwadi Party has either never won or won only a few times. The Samajwadi Party has never tasted victory on seats like Amethi, Raebareli, Varanasi, Baghpat, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Fatehpur Sikri, Hathras and Kanpur. The SP has won Amroha, Saharanpur, Bulandshahar, Jhansi, Sitapur, and Maharajganj just once while it won Kaisarganj five times and Barabanki two times.

Shooting Two Birds With An Arrow

By offering 17 seats to Congress, Akhilesh Yadav has shot two birds with an arrow. First, it has got rid of the seats where it's weak and second, it has fulfilled the responsibility of allocating a fair number of seats to Congress despite the latter's low winnability rate. The Congress and Samawadi Party are part of the INDIA bloc. The challenge for Akhilesh Yadav was that it had to devise a plan for these weak seats where there is a low chance for the SP to win. Thus, by allocating them to the Congress, he has put the grand old party in a possible fix. If Congress manages to win these seats, then it will be good for the party but if loses them, then SP will accuse it of turning irrelevant in state politics. Akhilesh has also made it clear that he won't join Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra until the Congress finalizes the seat-sharing deal.