Last month, the Samajwadi Party had unilaterally announced 11 Lok Sabha seats for the Congress in UP. Caught off guard, the baffled leadership of UP Congress said that the seat-sharing talks with the SP were still on and the central leadership would take the final decision.Later, SP also released its first list of candidates for 16 seats, including many like Lakhimpur Kheri and Farrukhabad, which the Congress had demanded. And on Monday, immediately after offering 17 seats to the Congress, the SP released a second list of 11 party candidates for the polls. It covered at least three seats, which the Congress was demanding.The success of the seat-sharing talks between the two is crucial, especially after the failure of such talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has decided to contest in her state alone.Dealing a blow to the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, RLD president Jayant Chaudhary recently decided to part ways with the alliance and switch over to the ruling NDA.In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won only one seat, Rae Bareli. Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani in Amethi. The Samajwadi Party at that time refrained from contesting in Amethi and Rae Bareli as a gesture of courtesy towards the Congress. The support of the SP in Amethi and Rae Bareli will be significant for the Congress.With 80 seats, the state sends the highest number of MPs to Parliament.(With inputs from ENS, PTI and ANI)
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