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Congress may leave a few seats for like-minded parties: Ghulam Nabi Azad
Azad, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, also dismissed the possibility of a tie-up with any political party for the general elections.
Senior Congress leader and in-charge of the party’s Uttar Pradesh affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday reiterated his party’s stand of contesting all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state but said his party may leave a few seats for like-minded parties too.
“For now, we are getting ready to contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats,” said Azad to journalists here.
Azad, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, also dismissed the possibility of a tie-up with any political party for the general elections.
“No, we are not discussing (a tie-up) with anyone,” Azad said.
“Preparations are in full swing. There is the possibility of give and take in a few seats, but we are preparing for all seats,” Azad said.
When asked to comment on the decision by the SP-BSP alliance not to contest from Amethi and Rae Bareli, two traditional Congress strongholds, Azad said: “They haven’t contested from those seats in earlier elections as well, we can also leave out a few seats for them if need be”.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is a three-time MP from Amethi, and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has been elected to the Lok Sabha four times from Rae Bareli.
After being snubbed by the SP and the BSP for an alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress on January 13 announced to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on its own in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress had won just two seats in UP with a 7.5% vote share in the 2014 general elections.
The SP and the Congress had contested the 2017 assembly elections as alliance partners. So, while announcing the party’s decision to contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats here on Sunday, Azad only clarified his party’s position on the issue and said, “We have not broken the alliance with the SP. People of the state should know that we are not to be blamed. We wanted to take everybody along to fight the BJP,” said Azad.
About the finalisation of tickets, another leader said the party had sufficient feedback about every Lok Sabha seat.
“We have given inputs and will provide more information as and when needed,” said the leader.
(WITH AGENCY INPUTS)
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Cong workers concerned about party’s silence on Maya’s attacks
Umesh Raghuvanshi
uraghuvanshi@hindustantimes.com
Lucknow Congress workers in Uttar Pradesh appear concerned about the party’s continuing silence on Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who has been keeping the Congress in the focus of her attacks ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
This became evident at a meeting that Congress general secretary incharge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad, along with other leaders attended at the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) headquarters, here on Wednesday.
“BSP chief Mayawati is consistently targeting the Congress. We are not doing anything. What should we do?” asked a district party president at the meeting.
“You are free to counter the BSP your own way. We know how and when to respond to these attacks,” said Azad, who addressed partymen from 32 districts to gear up the party organisation for Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s nearly 12 public meetings next month.
The Congress is unlikely to annoy the BSP in view of latter’s support to Congress governments formed recently in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Although a BSP MLA had recently resigned from Karnataka government, the party continues to extend outside support to JD (S)-Congress government led by HD Kumaraswamy.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has not targeted the Congress after announcement of the SP-BSP alliance.
Azad also used the occasion to call upon the partymen to mobilise large crowds for Rahul Gandhi’s rallies. “Your district leaders may or may not invite you or involve you in the preparations. You have to work hard to mobilise crowd for the rallies. Do complete the work of constituting block and booth level committees and ensure large participation in all the preparations for the poll,” said Azad.
The district party leaders have been asked to suggest tentative dates and venues for Rahul Gandhi’s meetings.
Besides Azad, UPCC president Raj Babbar and senior party leaders Sanjay Singh and Pramod Tiwari attended the interactive sessions with the partymen, who appeared in an upbeat mood.
“We are ready to fight the poll. Rahul Gandhi’s public meetings that will begin from Lucknow are likely to be held between February 2 and 28. We are going back to our districts and will begin preparations for these rallies,” said a district party leader.
