Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017: Rahul Gandhi And I Like Two Wheels Of A Cycle, Says Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: New partners Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, dressed almost identically in white kurtas and dark jackets, hugged and then hugged again, displaying much chemistry and bonhomie today at their first public appearance after their parties sealed a deal to contest the Uttar Pradesh elections together. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who leads the Samajwadi Party, said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and he were two wheels of development of the same cycle, invoking his party's election symbol. Rahul Gandhi called it the Sangam, the coming together of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in UP.

They said they had converted their personal rapport and friendship into a partnership. "We are friends, but that is different. We want to end the politics of anger of the BJP," said Rahul Gandhi, stressing that differences between the two parties are "history."

"We are contesting the elections on similarities and we are both making compromises for the youth of UP and its development," the Congress leader said, playing down their disagreement over sharing 10 seats in Raebareli and Amethi, the respective parliamentary constituencies of Mr Gandhi and his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It was not a "central issue but a peripheral one," Rahul Gandhi said.
 The seats in the Gandhi turf had reportedly brought the alliance to breakpoint even before it was announced. "During negotiations there was posturing, Akhilesh said something, I said something, he pretended to be angry and so did I. These are all parts of negotiations, don't take them seriously," Mr Gandhi said. Akhilesh Yadav, who reportedly does not want to give the Congress any more seats than agreed upon, did not comment. Under their deal, the Congress will play junior partner in these elections, contesting 105 of UP's 403 seats, while the Samajwadi Party will contest the rest.

After their joint press conference, the two leaders set off on a six-km road show, drawing thousands as they slowly made their way down some of the most congested lanes of the capital Lucknow with a significant Muslim population. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress hope that by coming together they will consolidate UP's Muslim vote, which they have split in previous elections.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, too, is eyeing UP's 18 per cent Muslim vote, and has fielded almost 100 candidates from the community.
 Amid the optics today, Mr Gandhi was also soft on Ms Mayawati, the Samajwadi Party's arch rival, clear that he was in this alliance to defeat the BJP. He was also economical in his praise of the Akhilesh Yadav government's performance in the last five years. It was the next five that mattered, he said.

Mr Gandhi did not rule out the possibility of the partnership extending to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saying it was early days yet, but it was "open for discussion, it is possible." Akhilesh Yadav did not comment.

Both side-stepped questions on whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav's father Mulayam Singh Yadav would campaign. "We have their blessings," said Akhilesh Yadav. Hours later Mulayam Singh, seemingly sulking since his son took over the party earlier this month, said he would not campaign as he does not approve of the tie-up with the Congress.
 Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi have years of mistrust to undo. In 1989, Mulayam Singh had dislodged the Congress in UP riding on Muslim support that he took away from it. In 1999, Mulayam Singh did not come through with the support that Sonia Gandhi believed she had to stake claim to form government at the Centre with 272 members of Parliament backing her.