Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party is exploring the possibility of expanding its political footprint in the upcoming Assam legislative assembly elections and is preparing to contest more than 28 seats in the north-eastern state if alliance negotiations do not lead to a satisfactory arrangement. A delegation of SP functionaries from Assam met party national president Akhilesh Yadav to discuss the party’s preparedness and political strategy for the forthcoming assembly elections.The delegation was led by the party’s Assam state general secretary, Narayan Dutta Bhuiya, and included former national secretary and in-charge of north-east states, Mahavir Singh.The delegation briefed the SP chief about the organisational groundwork carried out by the party in various constituencies across the state, Mahavir Singh told TOI.They informed the SP president that the party strengthened its grassroots network and identified more than 28 constituencies where it believes it can put up a strong contest. Singh added that the party leadership was keen to expand SP’s presence beyond its traditional base and strengthen its position in the North-East. “We worked continuously in Assam and our state unit believes that the party has a realistic chance of contesting and performing well on more than 28 assembly seats,” Singh said. The delegation also urged the SP brass to allow the party to actively participate in the Assam assembly polls.Akhilesh gave his in-principle approval to the proposal and asked the state unit to continue strengthening the organisation. He also emphasised that the party prefers to contest the elections as part of the INDIA alliance and stressed the need for a respectful and equitable seat-sharing arrangement among alliance partners. Akhilesh directed the Assam unit to remain prepared to contest the elections independently if alliance negotiations fail to produce a seat-sharing formula.Mahavir Singh told TOI, “Our first preference is to contest within the INDIA alliance with a fair seat-sharing arrangement. But if that does not happen, the Samajwadi Party will contest the election with full strength in Assam.”The Assam delegation also raised concerns over the alleged lack of respectful engagement by the Congress with a regional political outfit referred to in the statement as “Rajour Dal” and its leader, MLA Akhil Gogoi, during alliance discussions in the state.According to the delegation, the breakdown of talks between the Congress and the regional party created uncertainty within opposition camp in Assam. Singh said that the SP leadership took note of these developments while discussing its strategy for Assam
