Cong-SP alliance in UP natural, will continue in Assembly polls: Ajay Rai

The Congress-Samajwadi Party (SP) coalition is a "natural alliance" and it would continue in the next Assembly polls as well to "uproot" the BJP from power in Uttar Pradesh, state Congress chief Ajay Rai said on Friday.

The two parties fought the Lok Sabha polls together and performed well in Uttar Pradesh, with the SP emerging as the largest party in the state with 37 Lok Sabha seats. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi won from the Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh, apart from Kerala's Wayanad.

"Our alliance with the Samajwadi Party is natural and this will also continue in the next Assembly elections in UP," Rai told PTI. The PCC chief also said he will be going to Delhi on Saturday and "make a strong request that Rahulji retains the Rae Bareli seat in Parliament".

Rai, who lost the Lok Sabha election to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from Varanasi, said the victory margin for the BJP stalwart has come down substantially and "this is a moral loss for him". Modi won from Varanasi by a margin of 1,52,513 votes this time, while he had won the 2019 polls by a margin of nearly 4.80 lakh votes.

The SP's Shalini Yadav had come second in Varanasi last time while Rai had secured the third position then. Shalini Yadav later left the party and joined the BJP.

The Congress leader alleged that Modi's "development work" in Varanasi is "hyped", and the fact is that "precious little is visible on the ground". Rai thanked the workers of his party as well as those from the SP and the Aam Aadmi Party for reaching out to people at the grassroots level in Varanasi to bring a good result for the opposition in the seat.

Rai began his political journey with the BJP, but later shifted to the Congress. He served as an MLA five times since 1996 and He left the BJP after being denied a ticket in 2009 LS elections. He was fielded by the Congress in 2014, 2019 and 2024.