Lucknow: Despite a bitter power struggle in

According to a Times of India report, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister

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.