Fielding turncoats in UP, Bihar unlikely to help Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress is viewing its enforced ���solo fight��� in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as an opportunity to rebuild the party as it has become an alien in these parts.

However, in choosing its candidates, the Congress seems to be aiding decimation of its little-existent organisational network. With elections less than a month away, the party is now banking on rebels from other political parties , all in a bid to save its electoral face.

For those being denied tickets in other parties, Congress has become the new destination. The decision to field turncoats in large numbers is expected to cost the party dear. Grassroots workers, district and state-level leaders and whatever little is left of them in these two states, are dissatisfied. They have been let down by the party they loyally served through the lean times.

A state level leader from Uttar Pradesh defends the party���s privileging of ���paratroopers��� by saying that ���winnability has become the sole criteria. Every party is doing this, accommodating rebels from political opponents.��� Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said that at the central level, the recommendations made by the state unit were examined carefully. It was, however, often found that the best candidate was the person who just joined the party.
But there are few takers for the argument at the grassroots level.

���I have worked for the party tirelessly for nearly 30 years. I was told that I would be given the ticket, but now I discover that they gave it to a man who re-joined the Congress just last week. Is this the reward for my dedication,��� asked Ms Uma Mishra, a ticket-seeker from Sitapur.

Others in the party are questioning the logic of fielding persons such as Ramesh Chand Tomar, a four-time BJP MP, who joined Congress because he was denied a ticket by BJP. `` On the one hand, the party leaders made heavy weather of the relationship between Kalyan Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav, on account of the former���s involvement in the demolition of the Babri Masjid, but now it doesn���t think twice before fielding a former BJP MP on a Congress ticket.���

Some in the Congress argue that given the decision to go it alone in UP and Bihar, and the near total absence of a viable party organisation, the party has little option but to rely on imported talent.

���Keeping in mind the state of the Congress organisation in UP and Bihar, the party leadership has little option but to field rebels from other parties along with some of our own candidates if it is to have any chance of winning���, a Congress leader said. Whatever the logic, if the top drawer of the Congress leadership believes that the current turn of events will help the party rebuild itself, then the growing disenchantment among grassroots workers belies this hope.

A senior party functionary insists that the organisation in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is better than in 2004, and that workers will rally around its candidates. ���We need to realise that the situation in 2009 is not the same as 2004. The party organisation is stronger now than it was 2009, ��� said an AICC general secretary involved with the Hindi heartland states. Interestingly, AICC general secretary involved in the negotiations with the Samajwadi Party, Rahul Gandhi, acknowledges that the party has little or no viable organisation in either Uttar Pradesh or Bihar.

Cong to contest 65 seats in UP

Congress is all set to contest 65 of the 80 parliamentary seats in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, reports Our Political Bureau from New Delhi. A third list of 20 candidates will be released by the party. As a quid pro quo, the party has decided not to field candidates in Mainpuri, Ferozabad and Kannauj, where Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav will be contesting.

Samajwadi Party has decided not to field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareilly. Congress is also considering whether or not to field a candidate in Lucknow to take on Samajwadi Party candidate Sunjay Dutt.

The final decision on the Lucknow seat has been left to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Among the names being considered for the seat is that of Nafisa Ali. The party has been also unable to finalise its candidate for Sultanpur. From Allahabad, Dhanraj Patel is likely to be Congress candidate.