"Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi will resolve seat-sharing": MP Rahman Barq

Speaking to ANI in Sambhal, the Samajwadi Party parliamentarian asserted that hard bargaining is a natural feature of any electoral coalition and drew a comparison with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

"There is no problem. Suppose the NDA parties contest the electionstheir allies will also try to demand as many seats as possible. If the Samajwadi Party, Congress, and the INDIA alliance contest the elections together, which they will, Akhilesh Yadav will demand more seats at that time," Barq told ANI.

Reiterating faith in the top leadership of both parties, the MP emphasised that there is no deadlock and that mutual consensus would be reached through dialogue.

"We are fully confident that Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi will sit down and resolve this issue. It will be announced as soon as possible which party will contest which seats," he added.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday took a dig at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after Kejriwal extended advance congratulations to him.

In a post on X, Yadav said a former Chief Minister of one party (Kejriwal) congratulating the future Chief Minister of another party (himself) in advance exposed an alleged internal conspiracy within the BJP against the incumbent Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath."A former chief minister of one party is congratulating in advance the future chief minister of a third party, exposing an internal conspiracy within his own party against a current chief minister," he wrote.

Taking a swipe at CM Yogi, Yadav said, "It is fear of what others can see that is making todays man in power misspeak."He also targeted Kejriwal with a jibe over his sunglasses, saying, "If he takes off his dark glasses and puts on clear ones, perhaps he would see everything clearly. After all, he is already under the influence of vanaspati, and on top of that, his vision is obscured by dark sunglasses!"

Yadav's remarks came after Kejriwal took a dig at CM Yogi over his comments on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh and extended advance congratulations to the Samajwadi Party chief.

Reacting to a video of CM Yogi's interview shared on X, Kejriwal wrote, "Maharaj ji, you also know that the Election Commission does whatever those two tell it to. I warned you before too. These two are out to finish you off. Congratulations in advance to Akhilesh ji."In the interview, CM Yogi raised concerns over alleged discrepancies in the electoral rolls following the SIR exercise, claiming that around 1.27 crore Hindu voters whose names appeared in the state panchayat election voter lists were missing from the Election Commission of India's electoral rolls.

He also cited figures of 66 lakh such voters, including 55 lakh Hindu beneficiaries of government welfare schemes and around 4.5 lakh voters aged 18 and 19, whose names were allegedly missing from the rolls.

The Chief Minister said the state government had submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission seeking clarification over the discrepancies, while asserting that the poll body was an independent constitutional authority.

The exchange comes amid an intensifying political debate over the SIR exercise ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. (ANI)