New Delhi, March 18 (IANS)Putting all speculation to rest, the Congress party Wednesday announced that possibilities of a poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh were over.
“Certainly the possibilities of alliance with Samajwadi Party are over now. They are looking interest of their party and we are looking interest of our own party. There is no time left for any talks now,” Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Congress party chief in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters.
Asked about the number of seats the Congress would contest, Joshi said: “We would contest more number of seats than you can imagine.”
Joshi said that the Congress would contest almost all the seats where the Congress had come first, second and third in the last parliamentary elections.
Talks between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for a poll alliance in the electorally important state with 80 parliamentary constituencies were going for long. Samajwadi Party had offered 17 seats to the Congress seats while the Congress had said that they would not accept anything less then 24 seats.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the Samajwadi Party had won 35 of 80 seats while Congress had won 9 seats. The Congress had contested 73 seats in the last election.
Elections in Uttar Pradesh would be held in all five phases – April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7 and May 13.