SP, Congress leaders discuss joint campaign strategy

Lucknow : Samajwadi Party and Congress leaders held a meeting in Lucknow on Monday to discuss the campaign strategy for the Lok Sabha elections, and the two parties also decided to hold joint rallies.

Congress Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pandey said the focus of the meeting was on running a joint election campaign, identifying areas for improvement and boosting cooperation among the two constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc.

Plans were also discussed for holding joint public meetings of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav as well as other leaders of the opposition alliance in the state, he said. He said that the joint rallies would be finalised very soon.

Pandey said that there had been no discussion with the SP leaders regarding Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats and that the Congress would take a decision on these two seats.

The Samajwadi Party is contesting 62 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and Congress on 17. The Bhadohi seat has been given to the Trinamool Congress.