Congress party has prepared to launch the second phase of its campaign in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from August 21. The party has made it very clear that they won’t enter into any pre-poll alliance.
As part of the second leg of its election campaign, Congress will roll out two yatras led by state unit chief Raj Babbar and chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit from April 21 to October 9. They will cover 66 districts in two batches, led by Babbar and Dikshit respectively.
On Wednesday, the grand old party blamed the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for divisive politics in the state and cited the recent incidents of crime and mismanagement. This can be seen as an attempt to reclaim their vote bank in the politically crucial state.
Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in charge of the party’s affairs in Uttar Pradesh, said “Looking at the area and population of the state, we will cover 64-65 districts during the campaign. Rest of the districts were covered in the first phase. This is how we’ll cover all 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh.” He also added, “I am confident after the kind of response we received in our first phase of campaign full of love and support, in the next phase when we visit these 65 districts we hope we’ll receive similar support.”
Congress’ chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit hit out ruling Samajwadi Party, and the BSP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by saying, “We have always been an inclusive party. We take everybody together and give everybody the opportunity according to their needs and requirements. The division in the society in the state has taken place because of these three parties.”
Dikshit also revealed that there is no present scenario of any alliance with Maywati’s BSP and said that ticket distribution could take place in October-November.
“The applicants for the poll tickets are being collected. By October-November the names will be decided. We have the magic of development, good governance, and make Uttar Pradesh one of the best states in the country,” she said.
Slamming the three parties that ruled the state in the past 27 years, Azad said: “In the last 27 years, the three parties which have formed government be it Samajwadi Party, BSP and Bharatiya Janata Party, have formed government by dividing the society. We’ll form the government by uniting the society.”
“That’s why we used the slogan “27 saal, UP Behaal”. Behaal (in bad shape) not just in terms of development but also law and order and corruption. All three parties for their own interest and for power have divided the society in the name of religion and caste,” Azad added.
Campaign convoy No. 1 will cover Lucknow, Barabanki, Bahraich, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar (Padrauna), Maharajganj, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ambedkar Nagar (Akbarpur), Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar (Bhadoi), Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Kasganj, Sambhal, Badaun, Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Auraiya, Etawah and Pilibhit.
Campaign convoy No. 2 will cover Lucknow, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Amethi, Sant Kabir Nagar (Khalilabad), Basti, Siddharth Nagar (Domariyaganj), Deoria, Ballia, Mau, Gazipur, Chandauli, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Fatehpur, Banda, Unnao, Kanpur Dehat (Akbarpur), GB Nagar, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Bijnor, Mathura, Hathras, Etah, Farrukhabad, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun (Orai), Hamirpur, Mahoba and Chitrakoot.
