Congress, Samajwadi Party form alliance for elections in India's Uttar Pradesh

India's Congress party and Samajwadi Party (SP) have formed an alliance to fight the crucial local elections in northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The announcement was made by a senior Congress party leader Ghualm Nabi Azad on Tuesday in New Delhi.

"There will be a Congress-SP alliance in the upcoming UP elections," Azad said. "The details of alliance including seat-sharing formula between the Congress and SP will be announced within two to three days."

SP is headed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. India's election commission Monday declared Akhilesh Yadav as the rightful owner of Samajwadi Party and permitted him to use the party name and its symbol -- Bicycle.

There was infighting between Akhilesh and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav over the party symbol and name as the party last month got bifurcated.

Uttar Pradesh is bastion of SP.

India's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) which is aggressively trying to win elections in the most populous state in the country described Congress-SP alliance as "desperation of weak parties."

"Two weak parties can never make a strong unit, especially when the popular tide is with BJP this time," Shahnawaz Hussain, a BJP spokesperson said. "No matter which boat Congress party will ride on is doomed to sink."

Elections in Uttar Pradesh, the India's most populous state will be held in five phases from Feb. 11 to March 8.

source: Xinhua