New Delhi : Even though its past record in Uttar Pradesh does not inspire any kind of confidence, the state Congress leaders have veered round to an opinion that when the assembly elections are held in 2017, it should go all alone into the electoral battle. Congress spokesperson R P N Singh told reporters that this view had emerged at a meeting of the state leaders convened by party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry. Several MLAs, MPs, and former MPs, MLAs from the state participated in the deliberations.
Although a final decision may be taken later, the ground situation also shows that unlike Bihar, where the party could tie with the formidable Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal( United) combine to defeat the BJP, the chances of striking any alliance to do the same in UP are rather slim. Apart from the Congress, which is the fourth ranked party in the state assembly, the other two non-BJP parties are the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Congress does not want to ally with the SP, which rules the state at present, primarly because the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is a slippery customer,
with his latest U-turn being the decision to walk out of the Janata Parivar ahead of the Bihar polls. An alliance with the BSP is also ruled out considering the temperament of the Dalit leader Mayawati who is right now feeling buoyant after the party’s good showing in the local body polls. Having ruled the state on her own from 2007 to 2012, she is loath to sharing power with any party. There was a momentary excitement when the UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav briefly endorsed the idea of a grand alliance with the BSP, but that proposal seems to have a died even before the BSP could officially respond to it. In this scenario, the BJP can certainly breathe easy with the knowledge that it shall not be encountering a ”unified opposition” and can bank on the division of votes to achieve success.
