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New UP Congress president says alliance on track, focus on building organisational strength across all 403 assembly seats
We gained from the alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls; the coming 2027 assembly polls will see the Congress emerging even stronger, says Aradhana Mishra
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Newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ on Saturday said the party’s alliance with the Samajwadi Party was on track and emphasised that the current focus was on building the party organisation across all 403 assembly constituencies in the state as doing so would help in conversion of support into votes for the alliance in the 2027 UP elections.
The Congress and the Samajwadi Party had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together in Uttar Pradesh, with the SP winning 37 seats and the Congress six, pushing the BJP’s tally down to 33 out of 80 from 62 in 2019.
Before seat-sharing talks, the Uttar Pradesh Congress is going to prepare a fresh blueprint on its organisational strength for 403 constituencies in a bid to put its best foot forward for the INDIA bloc, she said.
“Before the seat-sharing talks, the state unit will finalise a report on all constituencies. Though a decision on the alliance (seat-sharing) will be taken only by the top leadership, the state unit will provide the report for the talks,” said Mishra, a three-time MLA from Rampur Khas in Pratapgarh district.
“The BJP is compelled to bow down before its allies, but the Congress is strong, and will go with a respectable share in the alliance. We gained from the alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, winning six out of 17 seats contested. The coming 2027 assembly polls will see the Congress emerging even stronger,” Mishra said on Saturday as party workers greeted her on becoming the state president.
“In the last Lok Sabha elections, the alliance was announced in February, while elections began in April. We not only fought well but supported Samajwadi Party candidates. Uttar Pradesh was the only state where the BJP had to see a major defeat in terms of the number of seats and this was done by the people who now want to see a change in the assembly too,” she asserted.
Aradhana Mishra was appointed the UP Congress chief on Friday, replacing Ajay Rai who was at the helm since August 2023.
Uttar Pradesh is the fourth state after Bihar, Jharkhand and Punjab where the Congress replaced its state chief months before the election.
Responding to a query, she said, “Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon wasn’t just a slogan (in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls) but the core value of the Congress for women empowerment. We gave 40% tickets to women candidates in 2022 while the BJP that got the women’s reservation bill passed simply ignores women, leaving them unsafe in the state and country,” said Mishra, who is the daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari.
“The best example of women empowerment in the Congress is myself. I became MLA thrice and now I am state president,” she said.
