Cong leaders meet in Lucknow after SP-BSP alliance; say will contest all 80 seats in UP

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, January 13

Virtually rejecting the BSP-SP offer of two seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress today announced its decision to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, making it a three-cornered contest.

Senior Congress leader and incharge of the state, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told reporters that this was not an Assembly poll but a national election in which only the Congress could challenge and defeat the BJP. There was, however, enough flexibility to accommodate any capable person or secular-minded party on these 80 seats, he added.

The decision to go it alone in the politically significant state of Uttar Pradesh comes a day after BSP’s Mayawati and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav announced their alliance, deciding not to field candidates from the Congress-held seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli. As a matter of fact, Mayawati described Congress and BJP as two sides of a coin and claimed that there was no benefit in allying with the Congress as its votes were not transferable.

Commenting on the BSP-SP alliance, Azad said, “We did not break the alliance. During the last six months I gave at least 15 bytes that any party which wanted to defeat the BJP was welcome to join the alliance. What can we do if some parties do not want to join?”

He said the Congress would contest the 80 seats in UP with full preparation and confidence under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. “The results would be surprising. We would double if not triple the 2009 results,” said Azad.

In 2009, the Congress had won 21 seats in UP and one more later in a bypoll, taking the total number of MPs from UP to 22.

Without naming Mayawati, Azad said those who blamed the Congress for not doing enough for the marginalised overlook the party’s  history and constant endeavour to work for the mainstreaming of the deprived.