How Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's phone call to Akhilesh Yadav broke UP seat-sharing deadlock

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has finally agreed on a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress party on contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in alliance under the INDIA bloc . A formal announcement to this effect will be made soon.

"I am delighted to tell you that it has been decided that in Uttar Pradesh the INC will contest on 17 seats and the remaining 63 seats will have candidates of INDIA Alliance, including Samajwadi Party, among others " Congress Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande told reporters in Lucknow on February 21.

Amid a deadlock over the seat-sharing arrangement, had said earlier that he would join Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in UP only if its seat-sharing proposal for the polls was accepted. Yadav did not join the yatra in Raebareli on February 20.

On February 21, a smiling Yadav told media in Moradbad that all is well that ends well.

Sources said Congress general secretary spoke with Akhilesh Yadav over phone on the morning of February 21 to break the deadlock.

While the had agreed to contest 17 seats earlier too but it had some particular seats in mind. The party thought that it could not win the seats offered earlier by the SP and, instead, wanted seats which had more winnability for the grand old party. Due to delay in seat-sharing arrangement, the SP had announced names of candidates for at least 35 seats including Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of .

But now, after Priyanka's phone call to Akhilesh, the Congress is likely to get seats including Varanasi, Sitapur, Barabanki, Kanpur, Saharanpur, Amroha, Fatehpur Sikri and Jhansi, among others.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has not contested election before, is likely to fight from Rae Bareli, the seat earlier held by her