Wary of Losing Ground in UP, Akhilesh Assures Continuity of INDIA Alliance
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav insisted on Sunday that the INDIA alliance was still in place, days after J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah questioned its operations. Speaking at a press conference in Lucknow, Akhilesh stated, "INDIA alliance is intact".
He said that his party was only adopting the alliance's tactic of supporting a powerful regional party in opposition to the BJP, referring to his support for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi elections.
Akhbilesh's SP is the prime Opposition in Uttar Pradesh (UP), which successfully took on the BJP. The SP won more seats than the BP in UP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, winning 37 out of the 62 seats it contested.
Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly elections are scheduled for 2027. BJP has a stronghold in UP, where it had won 255 out of the 403 seats in the 2022 assembly elections. SP also registered its most successful campaign in the 2022 elections capturing 32.1% vote share but still fell short of the majority mark.
In this context, Akhilesh and his party need to partner with the Congress and other parties in the INDIA alliance to pose a challenge to the BJP in the next assembly polls. Hence his clarification about the continuance of the INDIA alliance.
The controversy over the relevance and the leadership of the Opposition alliance was triggered by Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejaswi Yadav, who said the alliance was “only for the Lok Sabha polls”. The Congress and the AAP, two constituents, are fighting against each other in the Delhi assembly polls.
It was followed by Abdullah's comment that the alliance “should be wound up if it was only for parliamentary polls”.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, who had expressed his discontent with the functioning of the INDIA alliance, has retracted his statement. He clarified that he never called for the dissolution of the INDIA alliance and that it was contesting the upcoming Maharashtra civic body elections to strengthen itself at the grassroots level.
Another INDIA alliance member Trinamool Congress has also supported the AAP in the upcoming elections. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee wanted to be named the leader of the Opposition alliance. She has also garnered support from other party leaders. During an interview with a regional television channel, she said, "If they cannot run the show, what can I do? If given the opportunity, I would ensure its smooth functioning. I can run it from here (Bengal)."