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Journalism of Courage
Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh are desperately hoping for an alliance with the BSP to come through, but failing that, a ‘‘fall back strategy’’ of contesting all 80 seats on their own is being brushed up and kept ready.
Although Mayawati has sent out strong signals against a Congress-BSP alliance, sources in both parties stressed that all is not lost yet. Behind-the-scene efforts are on by ‘‘well-wishers’’ of a secular front, and another meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati in the next few days is on the anvil.
However, given the uncertainty of the alliance, the Congress is busy getting into election gear, sources said. Sonia’s two intensive tours of western UP and eastern UP earlier this month were part of the effort to ‘‘galvanise’’ party workers to go it alone. She will be making another three or four rounds of the state in the coming weeks.
Apart from her rail and roadshows, the party is also holding a series of 18 meetings over the next fortnight in western UP to be attended by state-level leaders. Other parts of the state will see a similar spate of meetings.
The state has been divided into four zones, each with a full-fledged ‘‘control room’’ which will monitor 20 LS seats each. Ghaziabad will be the zonal HQ for western UP, Lucknow for central UP, Gorakhpur for northern UP and Varanasi for eastern UP.
But leaders say the enthusiasm will evaporate in the absence of an alliance. ‘‘Every Congress member in UP wants an alliance — ideally with the BSP,’’ a UP Congressman said, pointing out that in the absence of a tie-up the party would find it difficult to win even the 10 seats it had won in 1999.
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Meanwhile, JMM, Cong
meet likely this week |
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| NEW DELHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren is likely to have a second round of talks with Cong leaders sometime next week for seat adjustment in Jharkhand for the coming LS polls. ‘‘A meeting is expected to take place on Feb 18-19 when Soren will be in New Delhi,’’ JMM general secy Mukti Nath Upadhyay said. —PTI | |||||
Ex-UPCC chief Salman Khursheed, who for long advocated the ‘‘independent revival’’ line, has also joined the pro-alliance ranks now. But he insists a tie-up with the BSP will help both parties and not just the Congress.
The BSP won just 14 seats in 1999 to the Congress’s 10, he said. If both parties fight on their own, they will improve their tally only marginally. ‘‘If we combine, it’s very good for her and very good for us,’’ he said. ‘‘If we agree in principle to join hands, the details can be worked out in a day.’’ UP Congress leaders said the party has a list of 35 seats but would settle for even 25 seats in an alliance. ‘‘If we fight all 80 seats on our own, we will win between 3 and 10, but if we contest just 25 as part of an alliance, we will win over 20,’’ they said.
A Congress-BSP combine would attract the bulk of Muslim votes and also bring in some upper caste support besides the Dalit votes.
