സീറ്റല്ല, വിജയമാണ് പ്രധാനം: കോൺഗ്രസുമായുള്ള തർക്കത്തിനിടെ പ്രവർത്തകർക്ക് നിർദ്ദേശവുമായി അഖിലേഷ് യാദവ്

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has sought to rein in the growing public friction with the Congress over seat-sharing for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, telling his party leaders that the alliance's focus should be on winning rather than arguing over individual seats.

"It is not about the seat, it is about the victory," Akhilesh said in a post on X on Saturday, as the two INDIA bloc allies face questions over how many seats each should contest in the upcoming polls.

The message came after SP MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel publicly criticised the Congress's reported demand for 150 seats, calling it unrealistic and warning that giving away too many seats could hurt the alliance's prospects. Akhilesh subsequently asked SP leaders to keep their views and concerns over seat-sharing within the party.

In his post, Akhilesh said the important question was not how many seats the alliance partners get or which party contests which seat, but whether the alliance manages to secure a victory.

"When the goal is clear, hands join together. When the destination is in sight, the journey becomes easier," he said.

"The bigger point is not how many seats there are in the alliance or which seat is going to which party. The bigger point is that we all have to ensure that the alliance wins," Akhilesh said.

Akhilesh said the alliance's victory would go beyond the individual parties and represent a collective effort against communalism and to protect democracy, the Constitution and reservation.

"This victory will be bigger than the victory of the parties in our alliance. It will be the victory of our collective effort, which is continuously fighting to ensure that communalism never raises its head again, that democracy, the Constitution and reservation are not exposed to the BJP's influence, that harmony returns to the country, and that the country's progress and prosperity smile again," he said.

'KEEP SEAT-SHARING CONCERNS INTERNAL'

"I would like to tell all our leaders that whatever opinions or concerns they have regarding seat-sharing should be shared with us," he said.

His intervention followed sharp remarks by Shiv Pal Singh Patel, the SP MP from Pratapgarh, who questioned the Congress's reported demand for 150 seats.

Patel called the demand unrealistic and pointed to the parties' performance in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, when the Congress won only two seats while the SP secured 125.

"Given the current circumstances, the Congress party's demands are highly unreasonable. They currently have two MLAs, whereas we have 125. Based on this ratio, they should receive seven or eight seats. We can give them even 50 seats; anything beyond that would simply mean wasting seats and risking defeat," Patel told ANI.

The SP MP also criticised the Congress over the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He claimed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contested from Raebareli instead of Amethi because he was "so scared".

Patel further claimed that without an alliance with the SP, the Congress would not have won a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP TERMS SP-CONGRESS TIES AS 'SICK ALLIANCE'

The BJP has used the public differences between the SP and Congress to attack the alliance.

BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi described the SP-Congress alliance as a "stick alliance" and said the two parties were firing verbal arrows at each other.

"The SP and Congress are firing verbal arrows at each other," Tripathi said.

He claimed the situation had deteriorated to the point where the two parties were not even talking to each other. "The situation is so bad that they are not even talking to each other," he said.

Tripathi also said Akhilesh was giving advice through social media while SP and Congress leaders were publicly telling each other their political standing.

"SP leaders are telling Congress its political standing, while Congress leaders are telling the SP its political standing," Tripathi said.

He further accused both parties of being arrogant. "Both the SP and Congress are arrogant parties," he said.

CONGRESS SAYS TOP LEADERSHIP WILL DECIDE SEAT-SHARING

The Congress has maintained that the seat-sharing arrangement will be decided by the top leadership of the INDIA bloc and its constituent parties.

Newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mishra said the Congress leadership would decide both the number of seats and the timing of any alliance.

Congress leader Surendra Rajpoot also defended the alliance and hit back at the BJP.

"The INDIA alliance will contest the election. Who contests how many seats and where will be decided by the top leadership of both parties -- Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and SP president Akhilesh Yadav. Whoever wins where will contest there because removing the BJP from power is the objective of the INDIA alliance," Rajpoot said.

He also attacked the BJP over its comments on the alliance.

"The BJP should look at its own alliance. The BJP says such things so that it does not have to give an account of 10 years. It is looking for temples in mosques and stealing offerings from temples. It keeps making everything about Hindu-Muslim and temples and mosques," he said.

Rajpoot also pointed to differences among BJP allies.

"The BJP's own allies are divided. Om Prakash Rajbhar is talking about dividing the state, while Sanjay Nishad is opposing it. Jayant Chaudhary is demanding 73 seats. The BJP should first look at its own alliance," he said.