Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh are desperately hoping for an alliance with the BSP to come through, but failing that, a ‘‘fall back strategy’’ of contesting all 80 seats on their own is being brushed up and kept ready. Although Mayawati has sent out strong signals against a Congress-BSP alliance, sources in both parties stressed that all is not lost yet. Behind-the-scene efforts are on by ‘‘well-wishers’’ of a secular front, and another meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati in the next few days is on the anvil. However, given the uncertainty of the alliance, the Congress is busy getting into election gear, sources said. Sonia’s two intensive tours of western UP and eastern UP earlier this month were part of the effort to ‘‘galvanise’’ party workers to go it alone. She will be making another three or four rounds of the state in the coming weeks. Apart from her rail and roadshows, the party is also holding a series of 18 meetings over the next fortnight in western UP to be attended by state-level leaders. Other parts of the state will see a similar spate of meetings. The state has been divided into four zones, each with a full-fledged ‘‘control room’’ which will monitor 20 LS seats each. Ghaziabad will be the zonal HQ for western UP, Lucknow for central UP, Gorakhpur for northern UP and Varanasi for eastern UP. But leaders say the enthusiasm will evaporate in the absence of an alliance. ‘‘Every Congress member in UP wants an alliance — ideally with the BSP,’’ a UP Congressman said, pointing out that in the absence of a tie-up the party would find it difficult to win even the 10 seats it had won in 1999. Meanwhile, JMM, Cong meet likely this week
