SP to join Cong march once seat pact is final

The Samajwadi Party (SP) will join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi only after a seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties for the Lok Sabha elections is finalised, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday, highlighting further cracks in the already fragile Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

"The SP will join Rahul Gandhi's Nyay Yatra once the seat-sharing deal is finalised," Yadav said on the sidelines of an event in Lucknow. "Right now, talks are going on; lists have come from them. We have also given them a list." The SP had earlier offered 15 seats, largely of its choice, to the Congress, which did not respond.

The party upped its offer, hours after Yadav's remarks, to 17. The state, India's most populous, sends 80 parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha. "We have given a final offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress," SP national secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said. "Akhilesh Yadav's participation in the Nyay Yatra in Rae Bareli on Tuesday will depend on their acceptance."

Earlier this week, alliance talks looked promising because Gandhi called Yadav, at a time when negotiators on both sides - Avinash Pandey and Mukul Wasnik on the Congress side and Udaiveer Singh and Lalji Verma on the SP side were deadlocked over the choice of seats, said a person aware of the developments.