NOT KNOWN to be a party that sets the pace in election preparation, the Congress is packing several surprises when it comes to the scheduled bypolls to 10 vacant Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Ally Samajwadi Party (SP) has been reluctant to share more than a couple of constituencies with the Congress. Of the 10 seats, five were won by the SP in 2022, and another by its then partner RLD; the Congress, which has all of two seats in the entire UP Assembly, didn’t win any. Given this, the Congress hitting the ground in all 10 seats has surprised many.
The party has roped in not just state leaders but also four AICC secretaries in-charge of the state and five newly elected MPs, keeping local caste equations in mind, to push mobilisation on the ground. Earlier, the Congress had appointed observers for the 10 seats.
The leaders who are part of the bypoll drive include Congress UP chief Ajay Rai, Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra, AICC secretaries Dheeraj Gujar, Tauquir Alam, Nilanshu Chaturvedi and Satya Narayan Patel, and MPs Ujjwal Raman Singh, Imran Masood, K L Sharma, Rakesh Rathore and Tanuj Punia.
On why the Congress was treading possibly on the SP’s feet, a senior Congress leader said: “These by-elections will set the momentum for the 2027 Assembly elections for the party, and hence we are not willing to settle for less than four seats. But we are seriously preparing the ground in all the 10 as this will help us identify potential candidates, who could also pitch in if the constituencies go to our allies.”
Sources said that the Congress’s main demand is to contest the bypolls in seats that were won by the BJP, NISHAD Party and RLD (now a BJP ally) in 2022.
Admitting that the Congress depended on the SP for grassroot mobilisation in the Lok Sabha polls, leaders say that the party is much revitalised after the results and wants to revive its own network – for any situation. According to a party leader: “We will not agree on anything less than four seats. If not, we will go alone.”
Watching the Congress activities keenly, SP leaders feel the exercise is “pressure tactics”. They are also sure that the alliance will happen at all costs. “Kitne pe, woh aane wala samay batayega (In how many seats, that coming days will tell),” an SP leader said.
While the SP and Congress have held strong since the INDIA bloc came together, the Congress failed to ensure a ticket for the SP in the recent Haryana Assembly polls.
The Congress campaign will stick to its overarching narrative of the BJP government threatening reservations and the Constitution. Hence, not only is its Dalit leader and former MP P L Punia the in-charge of Milkipur (reserved) seat headed for bypolls, Punia’s son and MP Tanuj Punia is observer for the Ghaziabad seat.
Besides this, former BSP minister and Dalit leader Sadal Prasad, who joined the Congress just before the Lok Sabha elections, has been deputed to the Majhwa Assembly seat along with Ajay Rai as in-charge.
The 10 seats headed for bypolls include Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Khair (reserved), Kundarki, Karha, Phoolpur, Shishamau, Milkipur (reserved), Katheri and Majhwan.
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