The Congress on Sunday, 17 March announced it will not contest on seven seats in UP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and leave them for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the state.
“We are leaving seven seats vacant for SP, BSP and RLD. These include Mainpuri, Kannauj, Firozabad and whatever seats Mayawati ji & RLD's Jayant ji and Ajit Singh contest from,” UP Congress chief Raj Babbar announced while addressing the media.
The party will also leave two seats of Gonda and Pilibhit for Apna Dal faction.
The decision is being seen as returning the favour of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance that decided not to contest from Congress bastions Amethi and Rai Bareli in the state.
The party also reached an agreement with the Jan Adhikar party (JAP) for seven seats.
“We have reached an agreement on seven seats. Out of those seven, JAP will fight on five and we will fight on two,” he said.
The Congress was left out of the ‘mahagathbandhan’ in UP after Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav joined hands to form an alliance for the 2019 elections. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) joined the alliance later.
The Congress then decided to contest on its own in the state on all 80 seats.The Congress party released its first list on 7 March, declaring the candidature of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from Rai Bareli and Congress President Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.
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