Lucknow, December 19: The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have reportedly reached an agreement on the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. While the SP and BSP decided to give three seats to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), they left just two seats (Rahul Gandhi's Amethi and Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli) for the Congress.

The formal announcement on the alliance between the SP, BSP and RLD is likely to be made on January 15, 2019, when BSP supremo Mayawati celebrates her birthday. According to a report by Dainik Jagran, the SP and BSP will contest 37 and 38 seats respectively in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 general elections. The remaining seats will be divided between RLD and other smaller political outfits, said the report. Ram Madhav Derides MK Stalin For Proposing Rahul Gandhi as PM Candidate: 'No Vacancy For Prime Minister's Post Next Year'.

Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabah elections, the BJP and its allies won 73 seats. The news comes days after both SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati did not turn up at oath-taking ceremonies of the three Congress chief ministers. Yadav recently disagreed with DMK president MK Stalin on projecting Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate.

There is growing unease in the SP leadership as well as its cadre on speculation about it joining hands with the Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While the party is keen to be seen on the same page as the Congress, obviously to safeguard its Muslim vote bank in UP, political observers feel the SP chief is slowly distancing himself from the Congress.

The SP and Congress joined hands for the 2017 state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh but they were routed by the BJP.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 19, 2018 03:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).