To Solve UP Seat-Sharing Deadlock, Intervention By Sonia, Priyanka Gandhi

Akhilesh Yadav's party will contest 62 seats, with 17 reserved for the Congress and one left to Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, the sources told NDTV.

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav today said there was no conflict with the Congress and that the seat-sharing talks were nearly completed after weeks of blowing hot and cold. The breakthrough, sources say, could be achieved after an intervention by senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her daughter and party general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

According to sources, Ms Vadra initiated the talks and got both parties to the negotiation table. She first spoke with her brother Rahul Gandhi - whose Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is in Uttar Pradesh - and then with Mr Yadav to break the deadlock on Lok Sabha elections seat-sharing in the state and give a final shape to the alliance at the earliest, they said.

Mr Yadav's party will contest 62 seats, with 17 reserved for the Congress and one left to Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, the sources told NDTV. The issue is still in the process of being completely resolved, they said.