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Congress joins hands with Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra, eyes Muslim votes

File photo of Prithviraj Chavan

MUMBAI: The Congress snapped its one day-old ties with the Samajwadi Party on Saturday. On Thursday night the Congress had given eight seats to SP which the latter had accepted and announced that it would work to stop the division of “secular” votes. But late night on Friday, SP state chief Abu Asim Azmi received a call from a senior Congress leader informing him that the alliance was off as “leaders in Delhi didn’t approve of it.”“On Friday evening when we met Prithviraj Chavan, he didn’t even hint that our alliance was in trouble. We discussed how we would work together to ensure that secular votes don’t get split. The CM even asked if SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav would address some rallies,” said an SP leader who was present at the meeting with the CM. “Past midnight we received a call informing us of the snapping of ties.” The leader added that the Congress wanted some more time but “we told them we will go alone and fight elections.”Doubts over durability of the alliance were raised the moment SP and Congress made the announcement. Some Congress leaders in the state unit objected to it and called it “unholy and unethical” as Azmi had publicly rallied against the Congress and its leaders.With the break-up of this alliance, the chance of division of Muslim votes has grown further. There is an indication that a section of Muslims might vote for Shiv Sena. There are efforts by some Muslim leaders and groups to approach Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and strike a “deal.”