Congress sets a 'Cycle' rider for tie-up with Akhilesh Yadav

The tie-up between the Congress and Akhilesh Yadav-led faction of the Samajwadi Party is only possible if the later gets to use Cycle as its symbol during the polls.

Lucknow, Jan 9: The Congress has set a 'Cycle' rider for Akhilesh Yadav. The Congress feels that a tie-up with Akhilesh would not serve the purpose if he loses the Samajwadi Party's symbol, the Cycle.

Akhilesh and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav are in a bitter fight over the party's symbol and both have moved the Election Commission for the same.

The EC is likely to deliver its verdict on which faction of the SP gets to keep the symbol. There is also a likelihood of the EC freezing the symbol. If this happens, then both factions would have to fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on a new symbol.

The Congress feels that for the Akhilesh faction to have more impact he would need to fight the polls on the Cycle symbol. The SP is associated with the symbol and whichever faction gets it would have an edge in the elections, the Congress feels.

Both the Congress and Akhilesh Yadav have been sending out feelers to each other regarding a tie-up for the polls. A meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh that was scheduled for Monday is likely to be postponed in the event of the petitions pending before the EC.

A Congress leader informed OneIndia that a decision on the tie-up would be based on whether Akhilesh gets to keep the symbol or not.

Our strategists have asked us to put on hold any decision and feel that Akhilesh to have a better impact he would need to get the symbol, the leader added.

OneIndia News