Congress to contest UP by-polls alone, ditches ally RLD

Lucknow: Congress will go all alone in the Uttar Pradesh assembly by-polls which are to be held for the twelve seats, a Congress party leader said on Wednesday.

While the schedule for the by-polls has not been announced, party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry has dropped enough hints that they will not go into an alliance with any other party for the by-polls, the leader said.

Mistry, who is on a two-day visit to the state, has been talking to state-level party leaders on various issues, including preparedness of the state unit for the bypolls.

By-polls will be held in Kairana, Lucknow (East), Bijnore, Thakurdwara, Noida, Saharanpur, Charkhari, Hamirpur, Nighasan, Sirathu, Balha and Rohnia, whose legislators have been elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Congress contested the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Mahan Dal - a regional outfit. Both alliance partners drew a blank and Congress managed to win just two seats - Rae Bareli (Sonia Gandhi) and Amethi (Rahul Gandhi).

The party now wants to make its presence felt in the state assembly by-polls riding on the initial anger among people on rising prices of essential items and hike in rail fares.

BJP, which held most of these seats, is also trying to make the most of its ascendancy in Delhi.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has bowed out of the by-polls citing its long standing principle of not contesting by-polls and the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) is set to try and win some seats from the BJP after its near whitewash in the Lok Sabha election.

PTI