Friday, December 5, 2008

Congress Brainstorms in UP


Attempting a turn-around of dwindling electoral fortunes in Uttar Pradesh, top Congress leaders under AICC general secretary and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, commenced a three-day brainstorming session in Lucknow on Thursday.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for 2009, the brainstorming session attempts to hike vote-shares and arrest an imminent Bahujan Samaj Party onslaught, launched by third front prime ministerial hopeful Mayawati.

Digvijay Singh and the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Rita Bahuguna Joshi are reportedly scrutinising reports submitted by party observers appointed in all 80 parliamentary constituencies in the state.

The Congress is expected to use the reports as inputs, when it chalks out strategy for the forthcoming parliamentary battle.

Both the Congress and its ally Samajwadi Party face a tough challenge from the BSP under Mayawati and traditional rivals BJP, in the once-Congress ruled state, which is beyond-doubt the most important electoral battleground in the country.

After the huge success in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, estranged Congress ally Mayawati, with support from the Left parties, is counting on UP to catapult her to power in New Delhi next year.

Pundits suggest Mayawati will aim at securing at least 50 parliamentary seats in the state. A ploy, which may spell trouble for both the Congress and allies SP.

With the main opposition BJP upping the ante on terrorism, minority appeasement and inflation and Mayawati riding a crest with principled social engineering and the promise of clean governance, the worries for the Congress are beginning to burgeon.

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