Congress' decision to end its alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the aftermath of Tamil Nadu assembly election results drew sharp reactions from Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who took a cryptic dig at the grand old party and said in a social media post that his party does not "abandon" others in "times of difficulty"
"We are not the ones who abandon each other in times of difficulty," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said on X on Friday, posting his photos with DMK supremo MK Stalin and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee.
Akhilesh's post fueled speculations that the Samajwadi Party is considering ending its alliance with Congress for next year's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. However, on Saturday, Akhilesh dodged a question about the possibility of cracks in the alliance with Congress and asked about the source of such speculations.
"Who said that?" the Samajwadi Party chief told reporters at party office in Lucknow. What about the BJP? They have no work to show. They only spread negativity and divisiveness. These are the people who create conflict and follow the ideology of underground 'sangisathis'."
"We must fight against a multi-layered election mafia. All those committed to saving democracy, the Constitution, and the credibility of constitutional bodies must collaborate," he said on the 2027 Uttar Pradesh polls.
The Congress and the Samajwadi Party had contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections together, but their alliance failed miserably after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the polls, winning over 300 seats. In 2022, the two contested separately.
However, their alliance had managed to stop the BJP juggernaut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and restrict the saffron party to just 33 out of the state's 80 parliamentary seats. Considering their success, it is widely being speculated that they may contest the 2027 assembly elections together. Last month, Akhilesh had also hinted that the INDIA bloc will remain united for the Uttar Pradesh polls.
In the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was able to retain power in the state for a second straight time. The BJP won 255 seats, while its allies, the Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD Party, won 12 and six seats, respectively. The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, had won 111 seats, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won eight seats. The Congress had bagged just two seats.
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