New Delhi: The Congress is expected to share a few seats with its ally Samajwadi Party (SP) in Maharashtra as it is eyeing the Uttar Pradesh assembly by-polls and having learnt lessons from its recent defeat in the Haryana elections.
The by-elections for nine assembly seats in UP will take place on November 13, while polls for all the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra will be held on November 20. The results for both will be out on November 23.
The Congress is keen to contest the upcoming UP by-polls in alliance with the SP and has been demanding three seats after the SP-Congress alliance defeated the BJP in the state in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 43 of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The SP had recently angered the Congress by unilaterally declaring candidates on six out of 10 by-poll seats (the by-poll on the Milkipur seat has been withheld by EC) but later clarified that it wanted to keep the alliance intact.
A few months ago, the Congress had refused to share any seats with the Samajwadi in Haryana as the grand old party was overconfident in winning the northern state.
After the shocking results in Haryana, the SP criticised the Congress, saying had there been an alliance between the two parties, the BJP would not have won a consecutive third term.
The SP, which had two MLAs in Maharashtra, is asking for four seats from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which is expected to announce a seat-sharing deal in a day or two. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is also reaching Mumbai on Friday to discuss the issue with MVA leaders.