"The SP-Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh is very strong," the Mainpuri MP said.
As the cracks within the INDIA bloc became more predominant following the Trinamool Congress' announcement of candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav pointed out that Mamata Banerjee's party did not adhere to the conditions set by the opposition alliance.
"In West Bengal, the conditions on which TMC wanted to contest the elections did not meet the conditions of the (INDIA) alliance..." Dimple said on Monday while speaking to ANI.
However, she emphasized that the alliance between the Congress and her party remains "very strong" in Uttar Pradesh.
"The SP-Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh is very strong," the Mainpuri MP said.
Mamata Banerjee, while unveiling candidates for all 42 seats on Sunday, assured a formidable challenge against the Congress and the CPI(M). She also announced the TMC's intention to field a candidate in Meghalaya.
Mamata also criticised the Congress state unit and the CPI(M) for not softening their stance against an alliance with the TMC. "In Bengal, we will fight alone. The reason is that we were in favour of the alliance, but the Congress was not. The alliance happened between the CPI(M) and the Congress to facilitate the BJP. I don't support the CPIM or the BJP," Mamata said.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress will contest 17 Lok Sabha seats and the remaining 63 seats will be for Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and other alliance partners of the INDIA bloc.
As per the agreement, Congress will field candidates on its strongholds -- Raebareli and Amethi.
Additionally, the party will also contest Lok Sabha seats of Kanpur Nagar, Fatehpur Sikri, Basgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki, and Deoria.
Notably, the Congress will also field its candidate on the Varanasi seat, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)