NEW DELHI : Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is likely to meet Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi this week to form an alliance before the February-March assembly elections, pushing through a political deal that has been stirring despite a Samajwadi Party family feud.
Poll managers view the pre-poll arrangement as a “win-win” situation for both parties in the new political narrative after the Akhilesh faction won the battle of perceptions in the power struggle within the family.“A pre-poll alliance is all but certain to be announced this week,” a Congress source said.

The national party has been relegated to the state’s political margins after being voted out of power in 1989, while the SP has by and large split with Akhilesh on one side and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on the other. The Congress’s internal assessment is “not so encouraging” in case it runs alone.

Interlocutors of the two parties have started hectic parleys on sharing of seats for the state’s 404-member assembly, Congress sources said on Saturday. The Congress wants 100 seats to contest.

The announcement of a Bihar-style “Grand Alliance” that will bring young politicians Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi together for the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections will happen as soon as the Election Commission decides on which faction in the Samajwadi Party will get its cycle symbol.
That verdict could come today; the poll panel heard the two sides led by Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday.

With the UP elections now less than a month away – nominations for the first phase begin tomorrow – and father and son no closer to resolving their key differences, the commission could pass an interim order on the cycle symbol. It has the option of allotting it to none of them and “freezing” it for now.

In the “Grand Alliance” he is expected to announce, Akhilesh’s Samajwadi Party is likely to contest about 300 of UP’s 403 assembly seats, while  the Congress could contest about 75, and the RLD and other parties could contest 25-30. It follows the Bihar experiment, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was re-elected after strategically partnering with old rival Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.
Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh had pulled the Samajwadi Party out of the Bihar alliance at the last minute and has made it clear that he is dead against partnering with any party for the Uttar Pradesh elections. Akhilesh Yadav has favoured an alliance with the Congress all along, repeatedly assessing that such a combination can win over 300 seats in UP, where the BJP and Mayawati’s BSP will give the Chief Minister a tough fight.
The family feud in the Samajwadi Party has already set it back with party leaders and workers as well as potential candidates still confused on where they stand. There are two lists of candidates – one issued by Mulayam Singh, the other by Akhilesh.

Mulayam Singh has stoutly insisted that the Samajwadi Party has not split – he has refused to acknowledge the coup his son staged earlier this month when his supporters in the party – an overwhelming majority – declared the Chief Minister party president in place of his father.
While Akhilesh Yadav, 43, has been kept busy by the feud, his wife and parliamentarian Dimple Yadav is said to have been discussing alliance nitty gritty with the Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, sister of party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Team Akhilesh says it aims to sort things out in the next two days to enable the Chief Minister to hit the campaign trail by Thursday.
Elections in UP will be held in seven phases starting February 11. Votes will be counted on March 11.

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