‘Support to TMC doesn’t affect alliance with Congress’

The Samajwadi Party’s (SP) backing of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee for the leadership of the INDIA bloc is unlikely to have an adverse impact on the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from the SP, some other parties of the INDIA bloc too have come out in support of Mamata Banerjee’s leadership.

“The Samajwadi Party has a strong and cordial relationship with the TMC. Some leaders of the INDIA bloc feel that Mamata Banerjee may be more suitable and effective to lead the alliance. But we have good relations with the Congress too. We are constituents of the INDIA bloc and our support to TMC does not affect our relationship with the Congress and the Congress-SP alliance,” said Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary.

Senior SP leader and MLC Udaivir Singh also asserted that his party had good relations with the TMC. Thus, it came out in her support. “We have cordial relations with the TMC and respect TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. We have the same respect for the Congress and so our support to the TMC does not mean that the Samajwadi Party is opposed to the Congress,” he said.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party forged an alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This alliance worked and the SP emerged as the single largest party winning 37 Lok Sabha seats in UP. The Congress’ tally also improved to six from one in 2019. The SP’s vote share was 33.59 per cent while the Congress got 9.46 per cent of votes in the polls.

In the recent by-elections to the nine assembly seats in U.P, the Congress and the SP failed to reach an understanding on seat adjustment. This was said to be why the grand old party decided not to field its candidates on any of the nine seats.

The Congress’ move in the bypolls, coupled with the recent statements of SP leaders targeting the grand old party, had led to a buzz that all might not be well with the Congress-SP alliance.

“The Congress and the Samajwadi Party vie for support from the same vote bank among the minorities. If the two parties break away, it will only help the BJP. There should, therefore, be no immediate threat to the Congress-SP alliance,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, a former of the political science department of Lucknow University.