NEW DELHI: The stalled Congress-Samajwadi Party (SP) seat negotiations have kick-started once again thanks to a 20-minute meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Lucknow airport on Saturday. The teams from both the sides are likely to get back to business soon.
Seat-sharing negotiations between the two sides had been stalled for some time following differences over the number of seats that the SP should leave for the Congress. The SP has been reluctant to part with more than 16 seats, while the Congress has indicated it wants to contest at least 35 seats.
The intervention of the two party chiefs came following the breakdown of talks between the two negotiating teams.
Though details of what transpired at the meeting between the two leaders are not available, according to a senior Congress leader involved in the negotiations both leaders agreed to adopt a more realistic approach and to ensure that the sharing talks are completed quickly.
According to senior leaders in both the parties, the differences have now boiled down to about five seats. Some of these are currently held either the SP or by those who have won on the SP ticket but have since moved to the Congress.
Several of the leaders instrumental in bringing the two parties remain hopeful of an early resolution of the impasse. “At the best of times seat sharing negotiations are a protracted business. Now that both the party presidents have become involved, it will be resolved soon,” a senior leader said.
j_ansari@dnaindia.net
