Lucknow, Feb 21 (UNI) Ending all speculations, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress on Wednesday announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, with 17 seats havIng gone in the quota of Congress, while SP will contest on the remaining 63 seats.
The announcement was made during a joint press conference by SP and Congress leaders. Along with UP, the SP will contest on Khajuraho seat in Madhya Pradesh as a part of the INDIA grouping.
Congress national general secretary Avinash Pandey, state president Ajay Rai, SP's national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary and state president Naresh Uttam Patel made the formal announcement.
Pandey said, "I am pleased to inform you that Congress will contest on 17 seats with mutual cooperation. On the remaining 63 seats candidates of INDI alliance, including SP and other parties will contest and will defeat BJP."
The announcement is part of the series of decisions taken by the responsible national parties as a part of the INDIA bloc in order to protect democracy and save respect for the Constitution, he said.
Patel said the 17 seats on which Congress candidates will contest include the grand old party's traditional seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi. Besides, SP has left Kanpur Nagar, Fatehpur Sikri, Bansgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Varanasi, Amorha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki and Deoria.
Pandey said for sharing of the 80 seats in UP a committee was constituted on the directives of the national president of both the parties. "The decision was taken after continuous discussion on bringing all the democratic parties together in the Lok Sabha elections and to defeat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," he said.
Pandey expressed his gratitude to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for giving recognition to the alliance by keeping future politics of UP in mind and setting a far reaching target.
SP's national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary said the alliance will give a message to save India throughout the country. "Our party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been repeatedly saying that the manner in which the BJP government came to power from UP in 2014, in a similar manner it will be ousted from the power from UP itself in 2024," he said.
He said, "We have come to announce the agreement between the national presidents of the two parties. I am confident the the INDI alliance will be capable of ousting BJP from the power and I assure the people that it will be true to their expectations."
Patel said:"SP will contest from Khajuraho seat in Madhya Pradesh and will work to ensure the victory of Congress candidates on the remaining seats". UNI AB SSP