As Congress sits out UP bypolls, angry cadre call move ‘suicidal’

But as a senior UP Congress leader pointed out, the party leaders in the state were initially hopeful of contesting at least four seats.

The Indian Express first reported on Tuesday that the Congress was likely to sit out the bypolls, with the SP willing to part with only Ghaziabad and Khair seats, which are considered BJP strongholds with caste equations unfavourable for the Congress.

Congress insiders said the decision was finally taken after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav spoke to Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Congress made the formal announcement to stay away from the bypolls.

A senior Congress leader admitted that the party’s performance in the two seats which the SP had been offering to it was bad in the 2022 Assembly elections, when the party contested on its own. “We secured 1,500 votes in Khair and 11,000 in Ghaziabad. But, with the SP’s support, our numbers would have definitely crossed 60,000, and the cadre would at least have got the message that we are in the fight,” the leader said.

With the Haryana poll setback putting the Congress on the defensive, many party leaders in UP say the leadership clearly did not want to risk another loss, and at the same time be branded an “alliance breaker”. In Haryana, the Congress did not concede the SP’s demand for some seats, which the SP believes could have improved its chances in the Ahirwal (Yadav) belt.

Another senior Congress leader said that they understood that the leadership was keen not to put another strain on ties with the SP. “Neither the Congress nor the SP can afford to break the alliance till the 2027 Assembly polls, as the party seen to be snapping ties will likely lose the support of minorities. But it seems the national leadership has left the UP unit to its fate. We should have fought strongly even if it was in a couple of seats,” the leader said.

The first inkling of the SP’s intentions came a day after the Haryana results, on October 5, when it announced candidates for six of the nine bypoll seats. The Congress till then had been bargaining hard for the seats which the SP had not won in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Last week, the SP announced a seventh candidate. After the Congress formally said Thursday that it would not contest, the SP also announced nominees for Ghaziabad (Singh Raj Jatav) and Khair (Charu Kain). Interestingly, Kain joined the Congress just recently and sources said was the frontrunner for the Khair seat.

Avinash Pande, Congress general secretary in-charge of UP, flanked by the party’s state unit chief Ajay Rai, announced the Congress decision in New Delhi. “We will work for the INDIA bloc and work to ensure wins for its candidates in all nine seats,” Pande said.

On Wednesday night, Akhilesh posted on social media that the elections were “not about seats but about victory”. “The joint candidates of the INDIA bloc will contest on all nine seats on the SP’s election symbol ‘cycle’. We are united and standing shoulder-to-shoulder to ensure a big victory,” he said on X.

Claiming that the coming together of leaders and workers will increase the power of the SP, Akhilesh said every worker of the INDIA bloc has been filled with new energy. “This is an election to save the Constitution, and the harmony and honour of the Pichde, Dalit and Alpsankhyak (PDA),” Akhilesh said, calling for votes not to be divided.

Of the nine seats going to bypolls on November 13, the SP had won four in the 2022 Assembly elections (Sisamau, Katehari, Kundarki and Karhal), the BJP three (Khair, Ghaziabad, Phulpur), the NISHAD Party one (Manjhawan) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) also won (Meerapur). Both the NISHAD Party and RLD are BJP allies now.

Eight of the nine bypolls have been necessitated because of their sitting MLAs winning the recent Lok Sabha polls. The Sisamau bypoll is being held after its MLA Irfan Solanki was disqualified after being convicted in an arson case.