Team News Riveting
New Delhi, February 1
The brief on sky goodwill gesture between Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav in October last now given the dividend.
The Congress has decided not to field candidates against Samajwadi Party Chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav as a gesture of courtesy. The party has shown the same gesture for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the by-polls.
Like Mamata, Akhilesh has also not reached out to Congress. Political observers said it was a unilateral decision of the Congress as the outcome in West Bengal was visible. Banerjee is missing not a single opportunity to hit at Congress.
In October, a picture from the plane showing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Akhilesh Yadav exchanging pleasantries went viral as rumour mills started circulating the speculation of possible alliance between the two parties in the ensuing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Yadav soon put the gossip to rest by denying any alliance with the Congress.
A Congress party spokesperson said the party pitted no candidates against the two in a reciprocal gesture of the Samajwadi Party that did not field any candidate from Rae Bareilly and Amethi Lok Sabha seats against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 general elections.
Akhilesh is contesting the assembly polls for the first time from Karhal, a seat under his father Mulayam Singh’s stronghold Mainpuri against BJP’s Union Minister SP Singh Baghel, who started his political career with the SP.
Shivpal Yadav, who quit the SP and formed his own political group ahead of the 2017 state polls, joined hands with Akhilesh for this election as part of the rainbow coalition the Samajwadi leader stitched up to take on the BJP.
The Congress party had earlier declared Gyanwati Yadav as its candidate for the Karhal assembly seat but after Akhilesh Yadav filed his nomination, it announced the withdrawal of its candidature from the constituency.
