The Congress decision not to field candidates in the byelection for nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh is not a grand gesture to maintain the unity of the INDIA bloc, as the party has officially announced. The party chose to sit out this round of byelections only after failing to reach a respectable seat-sharing deal with the Samajwadi Party (SP). The two INDIA bloc constituents, who had jointly scored a significant victory in UP against the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections, fought bitterly over the seats they wanted to contest in this byelection. The Congress aimed to contest four seats: Phulpur, Meerapur, Khair, and Ghaziabad. The party expected to win Phulpur and Meerapur and hoped to put up a decent fight in the other two constituencies. It wanted the SP to contest the five seats that the latter had won in the 2022 state elections. However, the SP refused to part with Phulpur and Meerapur and declared its candidates for those two constituencies while talks between the two parties were still ongoing. This angered the Congress leadership, which threatened to break the alliance. The SP then agreed to withdraw its candidate from Phulpur, leaving the seat for Congress. But there was a catch: the SP had announced a Muslim candidate for Phulpur, while Congress planned to field a Hindu. The Congress feared that replacing the SP’s Muslim candidate with a Hindu would push the sizable Muslim voters in the constituency toward the BSP and jeopardize its chances of winning. Realizing it was trapped by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the Congress decided to let go of Phulpur. The SP then refused to part with the Meerapur seat. This left the Congress with only two seats — Khair and Ghaziabad — where the party lacks significant support and would struggle to secure second place in a three-cornered contest with the BJP and BSP. It was at this point that the party decided not to field any candidates.Haryana Shake-upBhajan Lal’s son Chander Mohan leads CLP raceThe defeat of Congress in the recent Haryana assembly elections has led to a growing chorus for a change in the party’s state leadership. Deepak Babaria, the AICC in-charge for Haryana, has offered to resign after the defeat, but neither state party president Udai Bhan nor Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupender Singh Hooda has made such an offer. The prevailing mood in the party was evident at a recent event organized at the party’s headquarters in Delhi to facilitate the induction of Bajrang Punia as the Working President of the All India Kisan Congress. The event was attended by wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was elected to the Haryana assembly on a Congress ticket. Bhupender Singh Hooda and his son Deependra Hooda, who facilitated the entry of Phogat and Punia into the Congress, were conspicuous by their absence. Their known detractors, Kumari Selja and former Union minister Choudhary Birender Singh, were present to welcome Punia and Phogat. According to sources, the party plans to replace Hooda and Udai Bhan. Among the names being discussed for the post of CLP leader are Haryana’s longest-serving chief minister Bhajan Lal’s son Chander Mohan, Rohtak MLA B B Batra, Jhajjar MLA Geeta Bhukkal, and Thanesar MLA Ashok Arora. Sources said Chander Mohan appears to be a clear front-runner in the race. The party is also looking for a suitable candidate from the Jat or SC community to replace Udai Bhan as the state Congress president.Shahid FaridiThe writer is Resident EditorTNIE, New Delhi.Follow him on X @Shahid_Faridi_
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