Congress aiming for big win in UP

Party wants to prove LS win not a fluke

The State would witness a kind of ‘mini elections’ as 12 assembly seats have fallen vacant following election of some sitting MLAs to the Lok Sabha  (LS) while some legislators had also resigned to join others.

The Congress, which, after two decades posted an impressive showing in the LS polls by bagging as many as 21 seats, feels that it was in with a “good chance to win at least six of the 12 seats going to bypolls”.

Two Congress MLAs - Pradeep Jain Aditya and R P N Singh - have been elected to LS  from Jhansi and Padarauna seats respectively.

That the party is taking the bypolls seriously could be gauged from the fact that it has set up a panel of senior leaders for suggesting names of prospective candidates for the seats going to polls.

“On earlier occasions, the Congress would have contested the bypolls surely but only for registering its token presence”, quipped a senior UP Congress leader while speaking to Deccan Herald.

“There is a perceptible change in the morale of the party workers at grass root level and the mood is reflected by the crowds at the state congress headquarters, which is literally beseiged by ticket seekers”, he said.

According to Congress sources, the party has received as many as 65 applications from the prospective candidates for the Lucknow (West) bypoll only.

Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tewari said that the party stood a “very good chance” of winning at least six of the 12 seats.

Besides the forthcoming bypolls would also be a test for the Congress to prove that its “spectacular performance” in the recent LS elections was not just a fluke. A big win would definitely boost the morale of the party workers for the 2012 state assembly polls, said Tewari.

“The party is gearing up for the next assembly polls and the process of re-building the organisation at the grass root level has begun...the results will be there for every one to see in the days to come”, he said.