Congress to go solo in UP polls, contest all 403 seats: Priyanka

NEW DELHI: The Congress, which is seeking to revive itself in the electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh, will not enter into a tie-up with any other major political party and contest all 403 state assembly seats on its own, party leader Priyanka Gandhi said on Sunday.
This marks a break from the Congress strategy compared to the 2017 state polls when it entered into a tie-up with the then ruling Samajwadi Party and conducted a high-pitched 'UP ke ladke' campaign. However, the BJP had swept the polls bagging a whopping over 300 seats.
The Congress will contest all 403 seats in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls on its own and emerge victorious in the electoral battle, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in western Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, according to newsagency PTI.
Questions SP and BSP:
The change of strategy also reflected in Gandhi's statements as well as said the leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (SP) were nowhere to be seen even when the 2017 Unnao rape case and the Hathras gangrape-and-murder case in 2020 that rocked the country. She claimed it was only the Congress was fighting for the people.
Addressing the party cadre at the Pratigya Sammelan - Lakshya 2022 in Anoopshahr, the Congress general secretary stressed on the importance of the Uttar Pradesh polls for the party, calling it a "do-or-die" situation. An electoral contest can only be won by strengthening the party at the booth level, she emphasised.
Priyanka Gandhi asked the Congress workers to be active on social media and post all party activities on various social networking platforms.
Attacks BJP:
Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP, she said the saffron party has no respect for the freedom movement as its leaders did not shed blood and sweat for the country's independence, and added that only leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and BR Ambedkar envisioned freedom for the country.
Priyanka Gandhi said the Congress has not only brought development but has also promoted brotherhood and harmony.
Hitting out at the BJP-led government at the Centre over the rising fuel prices, she said for 70 years, the Congress ensured that the fuel prices did not shoot up above Rs 70 per litre. However, in the last seven years, the BJP government has let the guard down, which has allowed the prices to shoot upwards of Rs 100 per litre.
SP focusses on smaller parties:
Having lost out in the previous elections despite tying up with Congress, the SP is trying to choose a strategy similar to the BJP. It is trying to enter strategic tie-ups with smaller parties that have pockets of influence.
Yadav has been involved in a war of words with the ruling BJP. On Sunday, responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's jibe against his party, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday attacked the BJP saying it stands for arrogance, lies, and inflation. Yadav's response came a day after Shah's speech in Azamgarh, in which he termed the SP as a party that stands for "Jinnah, Azam Khan and Mukhtar (Ansari)", giving it the acronym 'JAM'.
"For BJP, 'J' stands for 'Jhooth' (lie), 'A' stands for 'Ahankaar(arrogance), and 'M' stands for 'Mahangaai' (inflation)," he said addressing a press conference in Kushinagar.
Yogi exudes confidence:
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has been the face of a formidable BJP campaign to return to power. On Sunday, Adityanath said that Taliban received 'God's punishment' when the US Army bombarded them in Afghanistan.
Referring to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha by the Taliban, the chief minister said, "You must have seen that just a few days after that, the US dropped bombs there and the Talibanis started getting killed. We had said that God is punishing them for what they did to the statue of Gautam Buddha"
The chief minister was speaking at a 'Samajik Pratinidhi Sammelan' in Lucknow, IANS reported.