UP Assembly Polls: Titans BJP and SP To Clash: Congress Will Be a Minor Ally
While the Congress MP Priyanka Vadra is likely to head the UP-poll campaign soon, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be directly supervising the campaign for the 2027 Assembly elections.
Amit Shah would be addressing the state executive meeting of the party on October 30 and 31. Apart from reviewing the arrangements made so far, he would give them a road map to intensify the organisational activities. The party has been getting various surveys done, and it is of the view that there would be no effect of the ‘Chanda Chori’ issue on the polls. Their surveys reportedly indicate that the impact may not be more than 1%.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the two deputy CMs and other senior state leaders will also attend the meeting. Soon after this meeting, the BJP wants to accelerate its activities across the state and is targeting around 250-260 seats.
The Union Home Minister will also hold meetings with booth-level workers from all regions to strengthen the party’s grassroots network.
On the other hand, the Congress party claims that it has a strong base in about 125 seats, while the data indicates that the party, which had about 6.25% vote share in 2017, failed to get more than 2.33% of the vote share in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, winning just 2 of the 403 seats. Sources say that there are many seats where the party is not able to identify strong leaders.
Undoubtedly, the main fight in UP would be between the BJP led by Yogi Adityanath and the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav. The SP hopes to improve the opposition strength in the Assembly by adding the vote share of its allies, including Congress. Sources say that the SP might agree to share about 50 seats with Congress.
It may be recalled that in 2022, it was also Priyanka Gandhi who had spearheaded the party’s poll campaign.
She started her campaign saying, “ Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon,” but she had to face problems like organisational weakness, which still continues, as the party had failed to focus on strengthening the party in the state, and its voter base, including among women, had shrunk. The party had been losing its ground for decades and had to remain content being an ally of SP or BSP. Even the ongoing ‘Vote Chori’ does not seem to be making a great impact. It remained more as a campaign slogan.
The booth management by SP and Congress would decide how strong they would emerge during the elections.