Cong workers morale got a boost: Babbar

LUCKNOW: The Congress failed to win any of the 16 mayoral seats but its candidates’ second- place finish in five cities and victory in some other civic bodies have given some solace to the otherwise demoralised party workers in Uttar Pradesh.

Summing up the situation, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Raj Babbar said, “We are not happy with the poll outcome. Yet, we have been able to boost the morale of the cadres who felt dejected after the assembly election. The Congress won probably only one Nagar Palika seat in last civic polls. We have already won nine Nagar Palika Parishad and 17 Nagar Panchayats by now.”

A close scrutiny of the poll results puts the Congress in fourth place with its mayoral candidates getting 8.46% votes. Party insiders feel the situation would have been better if the Congress had put in more effort. After declaring a list of more than 50 star campaigners, the party did not do much to deploy them. The campaign was left to select senior leaders.

Barring Babbar, senior leaders Sanjay Singh, Jitin Prasada, Pramod Tiwari and some others, most partymen stayed away from campaign even in important constituencies. As a result, most of its candidates, including former union minister Pradeep Jain Aditya, failed to make a mark in the mayoral polls.

“Many senior leaders were busy with the Gujarat poll. Yet, we tried to reach out for campaigning for our candidates,” said Babbar.

As this was the first major test of the people’s mood after the assembly election, Babbar decided to lead the campaign in most constituencies.

“Out of three important seats of Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi, the Congress was second in the last two. This shows the people are looking at us and we need to work harder,” said a party leader.

“At least, the party contested the poll on its own and did not align with any other party. This will help in building cadres at the grass roots,” he said.