The chessboard for the 2027 assembly elections has already started being laid in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, but in the meantime, the sounds of rift within the opposition alliance ‘India’ have intensified. Samajwadi Party MP SP Singh Patel has adopted such an attitude towards Congress which has shaken the foundation of the alliance. He has clearly claimed that Congress has no existence in Uttar Pradesh without Akhilesh Yadav and there is no justification for giving it more than 50 seats in 2027.
The ‘fight’ started over the distribution of seats.
The age of friendship in politics is often decided by the mathematics of seats. SP Singh Patel’s statement is telling this bitter truth. The morale of Samajwadi Party is very high after its excellent performance in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The party is now seeing itself as the only ‘Big Brother’ of the opposition in Uttar Pradesh. The way MP Patel has advocated for including Congress within the ambit of 50 seats, it is clear that the SP leadership does not want to give Congress anything more than a junior partner in the state.
“Credit for Lok Sabha victory goes to Akhilesh”
What SP Singh Patel said during a program in Rae Bareli is a big blow to the election preparations of Congress. He argued that the improved performance of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections was entirely the result of the support of Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav. His statement has made it clear that SP is in no mood to accept any kind of ‘equal participation’ formula in the upcoming assembly elections. SP believes that the main competition to BJP in Uttar Pradesh can happen only under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav.
‘Existential’ crisis for Congress
Congress has been struggling for a long time to regain its lost ground in UP. He got benefit in the alliance, but the path of 2027 is becoming more difficult for him. In assembly elections, where booth management and the hold of the organization at the local level matter more, such an attitude of SP can reduce the political ‘space’ for Congress. Does SP want to keep Congress in only a limited role? This question has created a stir in political circles.
Akhilesh’s claim and caste equation
SP MP has made his strategy clear by declaring Akhilesh Yadav as the biggest face of PDA (Backward, Dalit, Minority). Along with this, he also attacked SubhaSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, showing that SP is completely aggressive about its traditional vote bank and social equations. Samajwadi Party, which won 111 seats in the 2022 elections, is now dreaming of returning to power directly in 2027. In such a situation, coordinating with Congress or keeping it marginalized will be both Akhilesh Yadav’s biggest political challenge and opportunity.
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