Bicycle by his side, Akhilesh all set to ally with Congress

Congress' face in Uttar Pradesh and former Delhi Chief minister Sheila Dixit has already declared that she is more than willing to step aside to make way for Akhilesh Yadav in the case of an alliance.

New Delhi, Jan 16: The election commission on Monday declared that the Samajwadi Party's name and 'bicycle' symbol belongs to Akhilesh Yadav's faction of the party. This deal closed, Akhilesh Yadav is inches away from officially declaring an alliance with the Congress. Given the split in the Samajwadi Party, an alliance with the Congress has become all the more important, for both parties on Uttar Pradesh.

As if to further reiterate the almost obvious decision, Ram Gopal Yadav on Monday said that the SP led by Akhilesh Yadav will forge an alliance with the Congress soon after the election commission's decision. Congress' face in Uttar Pradesh and former Delhi Chief minister Sheila Dixit has already declared that she is more than willing to step aside to make way for Akhilesh Yadav in the case of an alliance with his party. Akhilesh Yadav is now all set to be the face of SP-Congress alliance.

With this alliance, a formidable force against the BJP will be formed in UP. The BSP may now have to lose some minority votes to the alliance that will not only have combined a large chunk of the SP's vote bank but will also eat into dalit and minorities vote share. The key now lies on how much the split will impact the SP voters. It is to be seen if vote share of the party is split through the middle or Akhilesh Yadav takes away a large chunk of the voters.

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