Source: India Today
Adding trouble over the grand alliance, Samajwadi Party on Friday released the list of 191 candidates for the first three phases of elections. Interestingly, the list included SP candidates on eight seats where Congress has sitting MLAs.
According to reports, SP has fielded candidates in sitting seats of Congress that include-Mathura, Bilaspur, Kidvai Nagar, Khurja, Syana, Kapur, Swar and Shamli.
SP national vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda told media that SP can give 84-85 seats to Congress which include 54 seats where Congress was either at number one or number two position and SP was at third or fourth position in 2012 Assembly polls.
Responding to the candidate list, UP state Congress chief Raj Babbar said that there could be no alliance at the cost of Congress workers’ self-respect. “We are a big party and we cannot compromise on our workers’ interest,” he said.
Congress currently holds just 29 seats in the UP Assembly and is looking for a big gain in country’s largest populated state.
According to the first list of candidates, Mulayam confidante Shivpal Yadav will contest the elections from Jaswantnagar and Azam Khan will contest from his traditional Rampur seat.