UP polls: NCP agrees to Akhilesh’s call for alliance with Samajwadi Party
The Uttar Pradesh NCP unit president will initiate discussion from tomorrow with SP leaders to work out details about the tie-up, said Praful Patel
Panaji: The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said it is ready to join the grand secular alliance in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh with Samajwadi Party (SP) as the pivot. “I got a call from Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday afternoon when I was in Goa. The talks were about alliance of NCP with SP in Uttar Pradesh," NCP leader Praful Patel said.
Patel is in Goa to check preparedness of his party to contest the Goa Assembly elections slated on 4 February. “I told him (Akhilesh) that we are happy to have alliance with SP. He can formally announce that they are aligning with NCP. NCP will go for alliance with SP in UP," he said.
Patel said the Uttar Pradesh NCP unit president will initiate discussion from tomorrow with SP leaders to work out details about the tie-up. The NCP had earlier said they will seek an alliance if the SP, Congress, and RLD come together in UP.
Also Read: UP elections: Congress announces alliance with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party
The efforts to form a “grand secular alliance" in Uttar Pradesh went into top gear on Tuesday with the Congress declaring that it has decided to tie up with SP under Akhilesh, whose faction was allotted the party symbol “bicycle" by Election Commission.
The most populous state in the country will go to polls to elect 403-member House in seven phases between 11 February 11 and 8 March. Counting will be held on 11 March.
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