Those who loved to hate each other have joined hands in UP

Lucknow: Politics makes strange bedfellows.The Congress which had undertaken a Yatra to highlight the Samajwadi Party " misrule" in Uttar Pradesh only three months ago has joined hands with the party to win the electoral battle in the state .

The grand old party had got a bus especially designed for the Yatra which was named Kisan Yatra. The 25-day Yatra which had started from Deoria had ended at Delhi. People might have forgotten about the bus but a slogan which it had carried are still fresh in their memory.

The slogan was, Sattayees Saal, UP Behal, to tell the people that the party was out of power for 27 years and that the state suffered miserably during the non-congress rule. N D Tewari was the last Congress chief minister whose rule ended on December 5, 1989.

The S P formed government in the state after Tewari's exit which lasted till June 24, 1991. The party returned to power in 2012 . It is still holding ground.

The Congress rule ended in 1989. The power is still eluding the party. It's view on S P has changed now.Three months down the line the party realised that the Congress can be the party's only saviour. If it has to sail through it has to travel in SP's boat.

Who will gain from the alliance is difficult to predict at this early stage. The current assessment is that alliance may be beneficial to the Congress which has been relegated to the fourth position in the state.

At one stage it was feared that there would be no alliance between the two. But it was formed after both softened their stands. The Congress had demanded minimum 120 seats but finally settled for 105. The SP on the other hand withdrew its candidates from some assembly segments of Raebareli and Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies by way of compromise.