Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2027: Congress Rejects 'Junior Partner' Role, Seeks Equal Terms With Samajwadi Party

Lucknow: The Congress has fired the first shot in what could become a bruising battle for political space within the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, making it clear that it is no longer willing to play the role of the "chhota bhai" in an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP).

The message came from newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam, who said the party would seek an alliance with the SP only on "equal terms" for the 2027 Assembly elections.

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The statement marks a significant shift in the Congress' approach in Uttar Pradesh. Since the decline of its political fortunes in the state, the party has largely accepted a secondary role in alliances, including in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where it contested just 17 of the state's 80 parliamentary seats under a seat-sharing arrangement with the SP.

Now, emboldened by the Lok Sabha results and a modest revival in its organisational confidence, the Congress is attempting to rewrite the terms of engagement.

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Party sources said the Congress has already begun identifying around 170 Assembly constituencies where it believes it can make a credible claim during alliance negotiations. The exercise is being carried out with the help of a professional agency that is conducting ground assessments and analysing voting patterns.

A senior Congress strategist said the party's realistic target is to contest between 120 and 130 seats, but the larger list has been prepared to ensure that it enters negotiations from a position of strength.

"The Congress does not want to walk into the talks as a junior partner. The idea is to negotiate from a position of parity and demonstrate that the party has a footprint beyond a handful of seats," the leader said.

The move is likely to make the SP uneasy.

Despite the Congress' improved performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the SP remains the principal opposition force in Uttar Pradesh and is understood to be unwilling to concede more than 60 to 80 seats to its ally. Congress' aggressive positioning, therefore, sets the stage for a difficult round of seat-sharing talks within the INDIA bloc.

The new posture also reflects a deeper strategic recalibration within the Congress.

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The party believes the Lok Sabha elections showed that it still has the ability to attract sections of Dalit, Muslim and upper-caste voters when aligned with a larger anti-BJP platform. The leadership now wants to convert that momentum into a more substantial presence in the Assembly.

The appointment of Rajendra Pal Gautam, a Dalit leader from western Uttar Pradesh, is being viewed as part of that strategy. The Congress is also relying on leaders such as Pramod Tiwari and Aradhana Misra to appeal to Brahmin voters, while Imran Masood and Imran Pratapgarhi remain key faces for minority outreach.

The Congress has also deliberately kept the door open for a wider opposition alliance that includes the BSP. Gautam's remarks that all parties believing in the Constitution should get "appropriate representation" are being seen as a message not only to the BSP but also to the SP.

Political analysts say the Congress is trying to alter the psychology of alliance politics in Uttar Pradesh.

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"For years, the Congress accepted a diminished role because it lacked electoral leverage. After the 2024 results, it believes it has regained some negotiating power and does not want to be seen as merely tagging along with the SP," said senior journalist Suresh Bahadur Singh.

Whether the Congress can translate its new-found confidence into a better seat-sharing deal remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that the party has decided that in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections, it will no longer enter the alliance room prepared to settle for the role of the junior partner. The battle for Uttar Pradesh may still be two years away, but the contest over who leads the opposition has already begun.

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