Will fight Uttar Pradesh urban body polls alone: Congress

In a move that indicates an end to the alliance with Samajwadi party, the Congress has decided to go all alone in the upcoming elections to urban bodies in Uttar Pradesh.

Congress spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi on Monday said “A meeting of senior party leaders was held in New Delhi last week to discuss in detail whether the party should go it alone or contest the upcoming urban body elections in an alliance. There was consensus that the party should contest on its own.”

Big names including All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad, state unit chief Raj Babbar along with the candidates who had contested the recent Assembly polls participated in the meeting, Tripathi further added.

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The detailed directives in this regard to the urban body elections scheduled in June and July will be issued by the high command, he said.

The Congress has decided to contest the local body elections on its own after getting suggestions from the party leaders and workers, Raj Babbar said.

Earlier this year, the Congress and Samajwadi Party alliance suffered a crushing defeat from the BJP. This might be the lone reason that both parties are getting their ways apart.

It is to be noted that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had maintained that the alliance would continue between the grand old parties.

According to Congress sources, party leadership had a lot of pressure to end coalition with SP ahead of local body elections.

“If Raj Babbar wants to contest alone, his party will see for itself as to how many seats it gets,” Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal said.

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