Lucknow: Elections in Uttar Pradesh are now over. BJP came out with flying colours, with a majority not even imagined by many of its top strategists. But while BJP dominated the electoral battle, the narrative would be incomplete without talking about the losers, in this case the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance.
Till recently, the alliance was being described as the biggest and most crucial political move this season.
Defined by its catchy slogan 'UP ko yeh sath pasand hai', it was a deal which emerged not from any actual synthesis between the political workers on the ground, but sheer electoral opportunism conceived at the highest level of the two parties.
Babbar, while talking to CNN-News18, even praised Samajwadi party. “SP is a secular party and all secular forces need to work together against the BJP,” he had said.
CNN-News18 first broke the news that the Congress and the SP had worked out an alliance in mid-December 2016. At this time, Akhilesh was working to get a firm grip on his party. Finally, on January 2nd, at a hurriedly called national convention of the SP Mulayam Singh was ousted from the post of national president and appointed Akhilesh as the new president of the party.
Sources attribute it to Akhilesh's nervousness. Nervousness stemming from the fact that his own party was deeply divided. Some of Akhilesh's close associates have indicated that it was also partly because of his desire to script a new political narrative. A narrative which was defined by opposing the far bigger political threat, a new aggressive BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.
For the Congress, it was however a reason to smile. If sources are to be believed despite some serious efforts for political assertion in the state in the initial days of build up to the elections, Congress was always keen for an alliance. Many say the first choice was the BSP. But with BSP showing no interest, they shifted to the SP.
While there was no clear reply despite repeated questions about longevity of the alliance, Rahul further embarrassed Akhilesh by giving a certificate of credibility to BSP and its president Mayawati.
“BSP and Mayawatiji's ideology is not a threat to the nation, like that of BJP and RSS,” Rahul had said.
Clearly, despite being on the same boat, SP and Congress seem to be testing different waters. Brought together only by their immediate concern to stop BJP from winning Uttar Pradesh.
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