Congress scouting for 'winnable' candidates in UP for upcoming Assembly polls

The Congress, which is striving hard to remain electorally relevant in the state, has started scouting for 'winnable' candidates in the state, with the two other major opposition parties — Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP — making it clear that they will go solo in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh,

According to the sources in the UP Congress, party general secretary and state unit in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has asked senior party leaders to be ready to contest the forthcoming assembly polls.

A senior state Congress leader here conceded on Tuesday that it was going to be a 'tough' task for the grand old party to find 'good' candidates to be fielded from 403 assembly seats in case the party was 'forced' to go solo.

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''Priyankaji has asked the senior leaders to contest the polls.....they have even been asked to start the groundwork,'' the leader told DH.

The Congress, which had managed to win seven seats in the 2017 assembly polls in UP, faced rebellions and desertions ahead of the elections with several senior leaders, including former union minister Jitin Prasada, joining the BJP.

Even in Raebareli, the Lok Sabha seat from where Congress president Sonia Gandhi was an MP, party MLA Aditi Singh had raised a banner of revolt. Aditi, an MLA from Raebareli Sadar seat, who has been expelled from the party, is likely to join the BJP shortly.

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Besides, several old guards have also openly voiced their opposition to UP Congress president Ajai Kumar Lallu's style of functioning. They had also written to Sonia seeking her intervention.

Sources in the party said that Congress still hoped that it could have some sort of alliance with the SP and some other smaller outfits.

Priyanka, who had recently visited the state capital, said that her party had an ''open mind'' on alliance in UP. Although the party high command favoured an alliance, some senior UP leaders wanted the party to go solo in the polls.