LUCKNOW: Upbeat by its success in recent Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is contemplating seeking half of the 10 Assembly seats up for grabs in upcoming by-polls from its ally Samajwadi Party.
It has already appointed senior leaders as observers for all the 10 seats. As per the Congress insiders, UPCC chief Ajay Rai, who was in Delhi recently to meet the party president is targeting those five seats which have been vacated by the NDA.
While SP has appointed its in-charges for six of the 10 seats going to by-poll. Congress also named party in-charges for all 10 to work in tandem with the ally SP. However, the seat sharing has yet to be finalised between the two INDIA bloc partners.
Initially, Congress was bargaining for one or two seats to contest in the by-poll, but it raised the number to at least four as part of its organisational revival exercise in the state.
“Now we are demanding more seats as the party would plan the re-organisation of the state unit depending upon the performance of its cadre in the by-poll, says a senior Congress leader.
Nine assembly seats got vacant following the election results of sitting MlA's to Lok Sabha
Nine of the 10 assembly seats got vacant following the election of sitting MLAs to Lok Sabha, while the Sisamau constituency in Kanpur, fell vacant after the disqualification of sitting SP MLA Irfan Solanki due to his conviction in a criminal case.
Out of the 10 seats,Milkipur, Katehari, Karhal, Kudarki and Sisamau -- were held by the SP, Khair, Ghaziabad and Phulpur were held by the BJP, and Majhawan won by its ally NISHAD Party. Meerapur was won by the RLD in alliance with the SP in 2022 state assembly polls.
As per the Congress sources, based on the report of the ongoing month-long exercise of cadre review, those showing results will be promoted, while the non-performers will be replaced.
The senior Congress leaders appointed as observers for the 10 assembly seats include Amethi MP KL Sharma for Sisamau Assembly seat; Saharanpur MP Imran Masood for Meerapur Assembly seat; Sitapur MP Rakesh Rathore for Kundarki; Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia for Ghaziabad, Prayagraj MP Ujjawal Raman Singh for Phulpur Assembly seat.
Besides, sitting MLA Virendra Chaudhary has been entrusted with the responsibility of the Manjhwan Assembly seat, Nassimuddin Siddiqui for Katehri Assembly seat, ex-MLAs Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajkumar Rawat have been given the responsibility of Milkipur and Khair reserved seats, respectively.
Ramnath Sikarwar, who had contested lok sabha polls from Fatehpur Sikri, will take care of Karhal, vacated by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.