NEW DELHI: As campaign ends for the first phase of polls, the Congress seems to have kept its electoral pitch low-key in western Uttar Pradesh, perhaps because the party is not expecting to gain much in the region that has the dominance of Jat, Gujjar and Muslim voters.
The party’s western UP in-charge Jyotiraditya Scindia started the campaign only on Sunday and held a few rallies in Meerut, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar. Congress president Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to campaign on Monday in Shamli, Bijnor and Saharanpur. But that got cancelled due to bad weather.
The tour schedule of Priyanka Gandhi was tweaked at the eleventh hour Tuesday, the last day of campaigning, and her roadshow in Bijnor was added. She also held a road show in support of party candidate Imran Masood in Saharanpur, where the party is expecting to pose a formidable challenge to BSP-SP alliance and BJP candidates.
It is believed the Congress did not go full throttle in west UP and this might help mahagathnandhan that is expected to give a tough fight to the BJP.
The party, however, denies that campaigning was intentionally kept a low key affair.
Party denies it’s subdued
“Western UP in-charge (Scindia) was planning and coordinating everything and could not be present every- where as he is also scheduled to contest from MP. A dedicated team under him is planning everything to support candi-dates,” said a Congress source.