With the bigger political parties not showing any interest in coalition politics, the smaller politics parties in Uttar Pradesh are getting increasingly restive.
While the BSP and the BJP have sworn off coalition politics for the time being, at least, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party had earlier stated that they were open to alliances with smaller parties in UP.
However, as the countdown for assembly elections begins, both the Congress and SP are also avoiding talks with smaller parties.
The Congress, which had earlier evinced great interest in an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal, has also cooled off towards the party. The Congress has announced candidates on 73 assembly seats without even initiating a dialogue with the RLD.
“The Congress has also announced candidates on seats like Shamli, Kol, Meerut and Nagina that are known as Rashtriya Lok Dal areas of influence. If the Congress leadership was keen on an alliance, they should have spoken to our leaders before announcing these seats,” said a senior state RLD leader.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal was also keen on an alliance with the Samajwadi Party but the latter snubbed the deal saying that the Rashtriya Lok Dal should merge into the SP before hoping for an alliance. Besides, the SP has already announced candidates on 350 seats, leaving no room for any alliance.
“We were keen on alliances because we did not want the anti-BSP vote to get divided and our doors are open for like-minded parties. If no one comes in, we are prepared to contest on our own,” said RLD president Ajit Singh in Lucknow recently.
Meanwhile, the Peace Party, which was also hoping for a ‘grand alliance’ with national parties, has also been left high and dry.
The Congress retraced its steps after the Peace Party leaders reportedly made some “irrational demands” when it came to seat sharing. The SP does not want any truck with Peace Party since the two share the same vote bank — Muslims.
With virtually no takers for RLD and Peace Party, the situation for other conglomeration of smaller political outfits is even worse.
The Rashtriya Pariv-artan Morcha, which is a motley group of 18 political outfits, has been left out in the cold and parties like Indian Justice Party and Apna Dal have also failed to sew up any alliances till now.