Candidates of the Samajwadi Party and its allies for the first and the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will be announced in a day or two after a consensus on seat-sharing was reached in a meeting here on Wednesday, a leader said. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state president Uma Shankar Yadav met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. The NCP announced that it has forged an alliance with the SP and has got one seat to contest.
The Samajwadi Party has also tied up with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Mahan Dal, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) among others for the assembly elections. Akhilesh Yadav tweeted a photo of him with the allies and said, "Held talks with the top leadership of all the allies of the SP on the development and the future of Uttar Pradesh."
In its official Twitter handle, the SP said, "Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav discussed election preparations with the allies. All took a pledge to form the government in 2022 under the leadership of the Samajwadi Party. There will be a change in 2022."
Interacting with reporters, SBSP leader Om Prakash Rajbhar said the first list of candidates of the Samajwadi Party and its allies for the first and the second phase will be declared by Thursday evening.
Asked about Swami Prasad Maurya reportedly set to join the SP, Rajbhar said these things will continue and "you will see on January 14 who else is coming with us."
"We all are committed to making Akhilesh Yadav our next chief minister," he said, adding the SBSP will contest in the fourth phase. Nixing any possibility of difference creeping into the alliance, Rajbhar said, "Everything on seat sharing is now final." NCP state president Uma Shankar Yadav met Akhilesh Yadav. It was decided that NCP leader K K Sharma will contest from the Anup Shahr seat in Bulandshahr as a candidate of the NCP-SP alliance, party sources said.
Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, who was removed from the BSP recently, also met the Samajwadi party president. Alam was BSP legislative party leader and was removed from the party after a complaint was filed against him by a girl working in his company.
All India Congress secretary and prominent Muslim face of western Uttar Pradesh Imran Masood and Congress MLA Masood Akhtar also met Akhilesh Yadav and are likely to join the Samajwadi Party.
SP sources said that Lalitesh Tripathi of the Trinamool Congress is also likely to be fielded as an alliance candidate from Mirzapur.
Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from February 10 and the results will be declared on March 10.
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