Lucknow: Ahead of crucial seat-sharing talks between Samajwadi Party and Congress, scheduled in New Delhi on Tuesday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will meet the functionaries from Uttar Pradesh to discuss the party’s position in the proposed alliance and review preparations for the 2027 UP assembly elections.SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had said on Saturday that Congress had sought 181 seats. Soon after, AICC in charge for UP Rajendra Pal Gautam said that “seat-sharing discussions would begin from Nov 17”.“We have already shared a list of probable seats with Samajwadi Party brass. Detailed discussions on each seat will be held in the meetings beginning Nov 17,” he said.Gautam had earlier emphasised the need for an “equal and respectable” share in the alliance.Congress insiders, however, said the party had undertaken a detailed exercise covering around 150-200 constituencies and was looking for a three-digit figure in the final seat-sharing arrangement.Explaining the criteria for shortlisting constituencies, a functionary said, “We have studied the party’s past electoral presence, held discussions with local party members and taken into account the organisational network.”The list includes the two seats Congress won in 2022 — Rampur Khas and Pharenda — as well as constituencies where it finished second in the assembly elections, including Mathura, Kheragarh and Jagdishpur.Inputs from Congress functionaries across the state were also considered while drawing up the list of 150 constituencies. These include six seats in Rae Bareli and Amethi, Rudrapur in Deoria, Zaidpur in Barabanki, Govind Nagar and Kanpur Cantonment in Kanpur, Sohawal in Ayodhya, Jaunpur Sadar in Jaunpur, and Palia in Lakhimpur Kheri, among others.The list is expected to evolve during negotiations, with both parties having undertaken their own assessments of each other’s electoral strength. Political analysts said Akhilesh Yadav had also done his homework and prepared a dossier on Congress’s electoral performance in previous elections, which could reveal SP’s position during the talks.Asked to comment on the possible number of seats, UP Congress president Aradhana Mishra Mona, who will attend both the meetings, said, “We have asked for a fair share. A reasonable number of seats for us will speak for the health of the alliance and increase voter confidence. We are hopeful of a consensus for greater good.”On Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with state functionaries, she said the meet had been convened to review the party’s organisational readiness for the elections.
