Congress party slips back into no-work mode in Uttar Pradesh

Well begun, it is said, is half done and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh apparently prefers to let it remain half done.

With the euphoria over Salman Khursheed's appointment as state party chief now beginning to evaporate, the state Congress has slipped back into the no-work mode. The forthcoming by-elections for the Mainpuri and Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seats are examples of the inertia that has gripped the Congress.

By-elections to these two parliamentary constituencies are due on Monday but the Congress campaign is yet to take shape.

Khursheed has spent more time touring the state than campaigning for party candidates and no other central leader has so far bothered to campaign in these by-elections.

The candidates in both these constituencies are expectedly desperate. "We are pitted against all possible odds. The Samajwadi Party has the advantage of being the ruling party, their party organisation is aggressively 'managing' the polls and the local administration is also lending its tacit support.

"We had requested our party leaders to bring Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh and Govinda to campaign for the party since they could have effectively countered Mulayam Singh Yadav's influence.

"But we have yet to hear from our leaders and there are only three days left for the campaign," said a Congress functionary in Ambedkar Nagar where the party nominee is Umed Singh, husband of former lawmaker Phoolan Devi.

No direction

In sharp contrast, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has been relentlessly campaigning in both the constituencies along with his army of ministers. Even in Mainpuri, where the Samajwadi victory is a foregone conclusion, Yadav has paid over a dozen visits in the past one month.

The Congress campaign in both these constituencies also lacks direction with every campaigner going his own way. "There are no clear directives about the issues that have to be addressed so we are taking up local issues. For instance, when we attack the Samajwadi Party, people question our continuing support to the government and we are at a loss for words," a Congress campaigner said.

For the past month Khursheed has concentrated all his energies in warding off Samajwadi attacks than in galvanising the party organisation.

Khursheed, who is seemingly more magnanimous and accommodating in his second term as party chief of the state unit, had announced that until the organisational poll process was completed, all office-bearers of the previous state committee would continue to function in their respective posts.

- The Asian Age