By ANI
NEW DELHI: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday met All India Congress Committee (AICC) Uttar Pradesh Incharge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the national capital and discussed strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Baghel has been given the responsibility of the party’s senior observer for the Uttar Pradesh elections.
He has been given the task of coordinating with the organization and the election machinery of the party.
Baghel visited Uttar Pradesh four times in the last month and has addressed rallies in Gorakhpur and Varanasi along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister also visited Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight persons, including four farmers, were killed during a farmers’ protest. Lakhimpur Kheri has witnessed a political slugfest after the violence.
In the past, Congress has tried to make the initial election announcements among the people through the ‘Pratigya Yatras’ from different areas.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is campaigning aggressively in the state against the BJP-led state government.
She has made several announcements including a 40 per cent ticket for women in UP Assembly polls.
The Congress general secretary has also kept possibilities open for alliance with small parties.
Many leaders feel that if the voters who are annoyed with BJP are divided into many political parties, then the party will suffer.
In such a situation, it would be appropriate to contest elections in alliance with some local political parties, they feel.
At the same time, some leaders are in favour of going in the elections on their own. The Congress had last contested the elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party, in which they had to face defeat.
Bhupesh Baghel will also meet Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi later in the evening.
Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go for Assembly polls in 2022.
Previously, in the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 312 seats out of the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly while Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) won 19 and Congress could manage to win only seven seats. The rest of the seats were bagged by other candidates.
Notably, the Congress party has been out of power in the state since 1989, that is, for more than 30 years. The last Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh representing the Congress party was Narayan Dutt Tiwari from June 1988 to December 1989. (ANI)
