SP MP Patel claimed Rahul Gandhi feared contesting from Amethi in 2024.
Patel credited SP support for Congress’s six Lok Sabha wins in UP.
Congress rebuked Patel, while Akhilesh directed leaders to raise seat-sharing concerns internally.
Amid the seat-sharing tensions ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, Samajwadi Party MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel claimed that Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was “so scared” of contesting from Amethi in 2024.
Patel, who represents Pratapgarh, told PTI that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had persuaded Gandhi to contest from Raebareli. He also argued that Congress owed its six Lok Sabha victories in Uttar Pradesh to the alliance with the SP.
“Had there been no alliance (with the Samajwadi Party), they (Congress) wouldn't have won a single seat. It even reached a point where their top leader Rahul Gandhi was ready to give up his seat. He contested from elsewhere (Raebareli) instead of Amethi. He was so scared,” Patel said.
He claimed Yadav had reassured Gandhi and warned that the SP would field its own candidate if he declined to contest.
“It was our national president who reassured and persuaded him, asking him to contest and warning that if he didn't, he (Akhilesh) would field his own candidate. Only then did Gandhi agree to contest,” Patel said.
Congress Should Be Satisfied With 50 Seats
Patel attributed Congress’s electoral gains to the transfer of SP votes under the alliance.
“Every single vote from the Samajwadi Party went to the Congress wherever they were allotted seats. That is precisely how they managed to win those six seats,” he said.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP won 37 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats and Congress secured six. The BJP won 33, taking the NDA’s state tally to 36.
Citing that gap, Patel suggested Congress should be satisfied with no more than 50 seats in a future arrangement.
“We secured 37 seats. We are far ahead of the Congress in every respect. They shouldn't ask for more than 50, and should feel happy. The Congress should cooperate, rather than making all sorts of absurd or negative remarks,” he said.
Congress’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam, however, told ANI on Tuesday that the party would not contest fewer than 150 Assembly seats under the alliance. He said Congress had candidates for all 403 constituencies and sought a respectable allocation as an equal partner.
Gautam said the party would try to conclude negotiations within October so candidates had time to prepare.
Congress Objects; Akhilesh Interferes
Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi urged the SP to restrain leaders making such remarks.
“The Samajwadi Party must work to rein in leaders who make such statements. It is because of the INDIA bloc that he (Patel) has become an MP. He should know his limits and avoid making statements like these,” Awasthi told PTI.
On Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav directed SP leaders to communicate their views on Congress and seat-sharing through internal party channels.
“I would like to tell all our leaders that whatever opinions or concerns they have regarding seat-sharing should be shared with us,” he told reporters at an event in Lucknow.
