Samajwadi Party MLA’s ‘reminder’ to Maha Vikas Aghadi over 12-seat demand

After Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi’s tweet seeking permission from Akhilesh Yadav to contest as many seats as possible in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections went viral, he said the post was just a “reminder” not a warning.
He said he wanted to remind the NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress that it was getting late, and it was about time for them to collectively declare the seats the parties of the alliance would be contesting. Furthermore, Abu Azmi claimed his post came amid reports that Congress was about to announce its list of candidates for the Assembly polls.
“The meetings in the Maha Vikas Aghadi are taking place only between Congress, NCP(SCP) and the Samajwadi Party. The meetings with the smaller parties are pending,” he said.
“I heard the Congress was going to announce something. I said it was imperative for them to take us in confidence and speak to us about the number of seats that would be given to us. This is why I tweeted, there’s no anger,” he clarified.
Abu Azmi said his post came at a time when Akhilesh Yadav and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi were in Jammu and Kashmir for Omar Abdullah’s oath ceremony as the Chief Minister. Azmi said he felt his tweet would spark a conversation about the division of seats as several INDIA bloc leaders were present in the union territory.
Azmi said he has demanded 12 seats from the alliance for the Maharashtra polls. He said Congress doesn’t have a footing in the seats that he has demanded.
“In Maharashtra, if any party of MVA, be it Congress, NCP (SP), or Shiv Sena (UBT), releases the list of assembly candidates without talking to Samajwadi Party or taking them into confidence, it means that they do not consider Samajwadi Party as a part of MVA,” he said.
Maharashtra polls will be conducted in a single phase on November 20. The counting of votes will be held on November 23.