Lok Sabha 2014 polls: This phase in Uttar Pradesh to be a reality check on Congress' health

LUCKNOW: The area going to polls in Uttar Pradesh on April 30 could well decide how low or high the Congress tally will be in the state. This was the area where the party reaped a rich harvest in 2009 — at that time it won six of the 14 seats that are going to polls on Wednesday, compared with four by the Samajwadi Party, three by the Bahujan Samaj Party and just one for the BJP.

Perhaps this would be the phase which would, to a large extent, determine the Congress’s electoral health and the BJP’s growth aspirations. The BJP has a lot of scope to gain in the area, which comprises central UP and large parts of Bundelkhand and where it had done poorly last time.

The Congress virtually swept the central UP areas in 2009, winning Unnao, Dhaurahra, Rae Bareli, Kanpur and Bara Banki. The one seat the party got out of central UP was Jhansi in Bundelkhand from where union minister of state Pradeep Aditya Jain, considered to have the ear of Rahul Gandhi, won and is again trying his luck. While Dhaurahra is represented by union minister of state Jitin Prasada, Kanpur sent coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal to parliament in 2009. Rae Bareli is represented by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, while Bara Banki elected former chief secretary PL Punia and Unnao saw the debut of Anna Tandon, wife of ex-Reliance Industries honcho Sandeep Tandon, all of whom are contesting again.

The fate of both the BJP national president Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli would be decided in this round of voting.