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Be it the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has been marginalized in Uttar Pradesh, or the Samajwadi Party (SP), excited by the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, they are trying hard to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2027 assembly elections. Mayawati also held a meeting in the party on Sunday to prepare the election strategy. BJP has started preparing for the elections two years in advance. When all the parties are trying their best for the elections, everyone’s eyes are on what the Congress is doing.

Akhilesh Yadav is taking strict steps, from social media to the ground, but Congress is not able to decide what will be the basis of 2027 elections, on whose shoulders will be the responsibility, who will take forward the party’s limited support base. Sometimes Congress leaders are trying to meet Mayawati, sometimes Congress has to indicate that it is with the alliance partners.

What happened in 2022?

Congress had given the responsibility of the election campaign to Priyanka Gandhi in the 2022 assembly elections. Priyanka Gandhi had taken command of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. He campaigned a lot, from Hathras to Varanasi he did tremendous campaigning.

There was crowd in the rallies, even the slogans like ‘I am a girl can fight’ did not help. Congress party got only 2 seats. Virendra Singh won from Farenda and Aradhana Mishra (Mona) won from Rampur Khas. In the victory of both, Congress had less support and more support base. These two seats are like fortresses.

On whose support is Congress?

Ajay Rai is commanding the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. He is the president of the party. Ajay Rai has a specialty, he contests elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From 2012 to 2017, he has been an MLA. Now he has made Varanasi his workplace and contests the Lok Sabha elections. At present he is the biggest leader of the state Congress. The picture of who is after him in the party is not very clear.

What should have happened?

Congress needs a strong Congress team along with Ajay Rai, which is not there in UP at present. Once upon a time, Congress had leaders like Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Jatin Prasad, Jagdambika Pal, Salman Khurshid, whose absence is now being missed by the party. Rita Bahuguna and Jagdambika Pal, both are in BJP. Salman Khurshid has now become politically weak.

The party needs new committees at booth, block and district level, on which the party is not paying attention right now. Raj Babbar is also in Congress but is in the background. Pramod Tiwari remains in the news but is losing ground. Political analysts believe that if the party had focused on new leadership instead of these leaders, the party would have been stronger.

Who are the big faces of Congress in UP?

Priyanka Gandhi, now MP from Wayanad. He is a star campaigner in the party but his role in UP is not yet clear. Rahul Gandhi had decided to stay in Rae Bareli instead of Wayanad. He himself comes from UP, hence his role in election responsibility is also big. Now apart from the Gandhi family, there are 5 faces who can get a big place in the state executive. Ujwal Raman Singh is from Allahabad Lok Sabha seat.

Kishori Lal is from Amethi, he had made the party return to its stronghold by defeating the then Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2024. Imran Masood is the party leader from Saharanpur. Now his stature has reached national level. He remains in the news every day and is close to Priyanka Gandhi. Rakesh Rathore is the MP from Sitapur. These days he is in the news regarding ‘Save Constitution Dialogue’. Farenda MLA Virendra Singh and Rampur Khas MLA Aradhana Mishra are also now counted among the powerful leaders of the party.

Will EBC formula, not PDA, strengthen Congress?

Congress is now trying to attract the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) to its side for the assembly elections to be held in Uttar Pradesh next year. Sources associated with the party say that a big meeting of these castes is going to be held in Lucknow in June. Congress will carry out its social engineering in this meeting.

In the last few months, Congress has held separate meetings with farmers, Jats, Gujjars, Pasis, Nishads, Lodhis and leaders of upper castes. Now it is focusing on EBC castes like Nai, Rajbhar, Nishad, Kashyap, Vishwakarma. The population of these classes is more than 20 percent.

Success of 2024, will Congress be able to repeat it in 2027?

In the year 2019, the Congress party had contested the elections without any alliance. Rahul Gandhi had lost from Amethi. Congress was able to save only one seat in Rae Bareli. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 6 seats in alliance with Samajwadi Party. This victory seemed like a boon for the marginalized Congress.

Now the Congress party is trying to repeat the miracle that happened in 2024. Rahul Gandhi went to Rae Bareli on 20 May. There he held ‘Bahujan Swabhiman Sabha’. Now the strategy of Congress is to support the EBC class along with the upper castes. Ajay Rai, the party’s biggest leader in the state, belongs to the upper caste.

Will seats come again with the help of Akhilesh?

Congress is part of the India alliance. Akhilesh Yadav has taken a dig at the alleged betrayal by Congress to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) after the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. While posting an old picture with Stalin on the alliance of Congress and Tamilatha Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), he had written, ‘We are not those who leave us in difficulties.’ Now if Akhilesh Yadav leaves Congress then problems may arise for Team Ajay Rai. The Samajwadi alliance has played a big role in the six seats that Congress has won in the Lok Sabha.

What will Congress do next?

The entire emphasis of Congress is on strengthening the organization. It is a different matter that the new state committee has not been announced yet before the elections. There is a need for a strong and new organization in UP. There is also a need for a new face who can strengthen the party. To strengthen the organization, Congress is also going to contest Panchayat and Legislative Council elections. Congress is now demanding 80 out of 403 seats in the 2027 assembly elections. Congress says that Congress can win more than 100 seats.

What is the challenge?

There is doubt whether the Samajwadi Party, headed by Akhilesh Yadav, will be ready to give 80 seats to the Congress. Even if Congress and Samajwadi Party contest the elections together, the issue will not be resolved on 80 seats. Congress’s performance in 2022 has been very poor. Only 2 seats were won, that too on the strength of local leaders. Neither the Priyanka factor worked, nor Rahul Gandhi.

In the year 2017, when there was an alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party, Congress had won 7 seats. From Bihar to Tamil Nadu, Congress demands more seats but the results do not go in favor of Congress. Now the entire emphasis of Congress is to achieve success like Kerala. It is not clear yet whether Akhilesh Yadav will make the path of Congress easier in UP or not.