The Samajwadi Party may been frontrunner in Uttar Pradesh for majority of poll pundits, but its senior leaders say that its post-poll manoeuvering will depend on the kind of numbers it secures.
While publicly the SP brass has been bragging that the party would secure a majority, leaders admit in private conversations that the final tally would fall short of the halfway mark of 202 in a 403-member assembly.
“We will win around 160 seats. If our assessment comes true, then we will not have to be dependent on the backing of any other major secular’ alternative, such as Congress . We can, in such a scenario, stake claim to form the next government in the state with the help of smaller players and independents ,” said a senior SP leader.
