…her UP MPs shout: show them the door

It is understood that state Congress leaders in the presence of UP MPs raised the issue with Sonia at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting on Saturday. According to pary sources, Sonia asked the MPs to discuss the issue at a meeting that is tentatively scheduled for Monday. Congress CLP leader in UP Pramod Tewari, who was present at the CPP meeting, however, denies any such thing happened.

The resentment within the UP Congress is perhaps one of the central reasons why the party high command has not been keen on roping in the Samajwadi Party even after the insistence of senior Left leaders.

Says Congress Aligarh MP Bijendra Singh: ‘‘We know this is going to be a coalition government and whatever decision the party high command takes would be keeping our interest in mind…We will tell the party high command about the situation in the state and put across our view.’’

The Congress also blames the SP, to some extent, for its poor showing in Uttar Pradesh. It had been expecting better results in at least four-five more seats as the Muslim voters had show signs of coming back to the grand old party. It was also felt that the entry of Rahul into the fray had improved the chances of the party in the state.

According to the party’s own assessment, Rampur, Pratapgarh, Farrukhabad and Salimpur were few of the seats that could have come the Congress way.

‘‘These were the seats that the Congress lost with a narrow margin last time and could have easily won this time but for the poll management by the SP,’’ a senior AICC leader said. According to him, this amounted to sabotage.

In another development, Sonia is said to be thinking of posting Rahul as the party general secretary in charge of UP, with four non-working state presidents reporting to him. The party hopes that Rahul will revive the electoral fortunes of the Congress here.