Congress to fight in 80 seats in Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh: Ghulam Nabi Azad

The announcement came just a day after the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party formed an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls but left out Congress from being a part of it.

Speaking to reporters, Azad was quoted as saying: "The Congress will contest on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats."

Azad said the Bharatiya Janata Party will be defeated in the state.

SP-BSP form alliance ahead of Lok Sabha polls:

SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday announced an alliance in which both the parties will contest in 38 seats each, media reports said.

Two seats have been left for the Congress and two for other regional parties.

Akhilesh, Mayawati challenge Narendra Modi:

Addressing a joint press conference in Lucknow, Mayawati vowed to give "sleepless nights" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

The SP and BSP were arch rivals in state and national politics till a few days ago. 

Replying a question on his party's volatile relationship with the BSP, Akhilesh Yadav said, “I have full faith in Mayawati ji.”

The two parties are going together since March last year when they jointly defeated the BJP in its pocket boroughs of Gorakhpur and Phulpur.

The BJP won 71 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Two other seats went to its ally Apna Dal. The SP won five, the Congress two, and the BSP none.