With the Congress, Akhilesh Yadav declares that “everything is well” after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s phone conversation

On Wednesday, Akhilesh Yadav said that the Congress-Samajwadi Party coalition in Uttar Pradesh is intact and that the negotiations over seat-sharing with the Congress have proceeded according to plan. After speaking with Akhilesh over the phone this morning, Congress national secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seemed to have cleared the air over the seat-sharing negotiations. Seven state seats are expected to be up for battle by the Congress. Today in Lucknow, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party will jointly hold a news conference to announce the seat-sharing agreement.

Akhilesh presented the Congress with his last offer of 17 seats, essentially threatening to walk away from Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state unless the Congress accepted. Akhilesh had first offered 11 seats, which they had subsequently agreed to extend to 15 and then 17. However, 17 seats was a step forward.

Akhilesh said on Wednesday that there is no disagreement and that everything would become obvious in front of you very soon. Everything works out in the end. According to Akhilesh, Samajwadi Party would run for “as many as we can contest,” or the maximum number of seats.

There are 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, and the Samajwadi Party has declared 31 candidates so far. Shivpal Yadav, the uncle of Akhilesh, has been nominated by the Samajwadi Party for the Budaun parliamentary seat in the most recent list of candidates. Ajendra Singh Rajput from Hamirpur, Iqra Hasan from Kairana, Praveen Singh Aron from Bareilly, and Surendra Singh Patel from Varanasi are some of the others. The son of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother Abhay Ram Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav from Budaun was included on the SP’s first list.

The role that Priyanka Gandhi would play in the seat-sharing negotiations comes at a time when speculation is swirling about her Lok Sabha debut from her mother Sonia Gandhi’s erstwhile constituency, Raibareli.

Will Akhilesh and Priyanka be at Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra?
On February 24, Priyanka Gandhi is anticipated to go on Rahul Gandhi’s yatra from Moradabad. Priyanka said she was hospitalized and wasn’t there when the yatra entered the state. Akhilesh Yadav also issued a disclaimer, saying he wouldn’t attend the yatra unless Congress had approved the agreement on seat sharing.