Congress says smaller parties in touch with it
Party may field senior leaders in order to win maximum seats in Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh
LUCKNOW: A day after deciding to contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state following a snub from the Samajwadi PartyBahujan Samaj Party alliance, the Congress has begun working on a strategy that will keep the grand old party in focus in the fight against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, party leaders familiar with the matter said.
Besides exploring the possibility of roping in smaller parties, the Congress is considering to field senior leaders, including former union ministers, in a bid to win maximum possible seats in this year’s Lok Sabha election.
It also proposes to hold rallies of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in constituencies having a high potential for victory. Gandhi’s rallies are likely to begin from Lucknow in the first week of February, an insider said.
Without disclosing the names of parties or seats, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Raj Babbar said, “Yes, four smaller parties are in touch with us. We will share the details once something works out on seat-sharing. As of now, we are preparing to contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats.”
The Congress won only the
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Yes, four smaller parties are in touch with us. We will share the details once something works out on seat-sharing. As of now, we are preparing to contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats
RAJ BABBAR , (UPCC president
Rae Bareli and Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but its candidates finished in second position in six seats. The party leaders now hope for a turnaround in their poll prospects in view of its victory in the three Hindi belt states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
“We will win double the number of seats the party won in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls,” Congress general secretary (incharge UP) Ghulam nabi Azad said, while announcing the decision to contest all 80 seats here on Sunday.
Despite Azad’s claims, the SP-BSP alliance is already being considered a formidable force to counter the BJP.
The Congress won 21 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2009 while the BSP and the SP won 20 and 23 seats, respectively, in the state. The Congress’s tally went up to 22 after the party’s victory in the Firozabad Lok Sabha by-election.
Babbar exuded confidence that the Congress would be able to improve its performance of the 2009 polls. “This is not an assembly election. The 2019 poll will be a fight between the Congress and the BJP. The Congress is ready for polls and the SP-BSP alliance will not matter. We have a list of 28 candidates ready. We have prepared this list after getting feedback from various levels. We will come out with a list of 24 more candidates soon,” said Babbar.
“Rahul Gandhi’s rallies will be organised in areas once represented by union ministers and other big guns as the party is considerably in a better position there than others. We are getting ready for Rahul Gandhi’s 12 major rallies to be organised next month across the state,” said Babbar.
Meanwhile, senior party leaders from 32 districts of Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Kannauj areas have been called to Lucknow on January 16, to discuss preparations for Rahul’s rallies in these regions.
“We will hold more such interactive sessions with workers to make preparations for rallies and obtain feedback from partymen on various issues to give final shape to our poll strategy,” said a party leader.