Congress runs a weak, listless campaign in UP

New Delhi: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh is confused about its poll preparations. On the one hand, the party is running rallies but on the ground, there is hardly any preparation, for the party has weak booth level cadre strength. A Congress functionary said, “We don’t have a strong booth level cadre that is where the main problem lies.” The Sunday Guardian called most of the Congress MLAs in UP but nobody responded to the calls. This paper also called Akhilesh Pratap Singh, Congress spokesperson UP, who refused to talk about the party’s “booth level cadre” being a matter of concern.
On the condition of anonymity, a political consultant who has actively been a part of Congress campaigns, said, “When Congress failed last time, there were very weak booth level preparations and that continues till today. Most of the booths are very weak and some even have less than three polling agents active in them.” The party has seen its ground-level workers leaving it since a steep downslide from 1993 when the national party could only gain 28 seats in the Assembly elections, the reason being its dismal electoral performance. After the general elections of 2019, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took over Congress activities in UP. Since then, in the party’s formative period to fight the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress has had the least focus on its booths. According to sources, the prominent candidates have been less willing to contest on Congress’ ticket, saying they would rather contest independently than go with the Congress, which an analyst says projects its weak prospects in the state unless they focus on its grassroots.
A political observer who has surveyed booth level preparations of Congress in UP said, there are many old leaders working on the ground, but they do not understand who political consultants are. They have created their own dominance at the grassroots. They don’t let any “leadership” develop among themselves and if there emerges a leader, they will denounce him. Once he is disrespected, he leaves the party and joins the other party; so the Congress, in this case, becomes a loser.
A senior journalist covering elections in UP said, “Congress has nothing in UP.” Praveen Jha, a political analyst, said: “The reason for their failure at the grassroots is that they had been in alliance with regional parties, due to which they don’t have booth level supporters or polling agents who can work for their party. The social connection of the party with people in its peak days is missing. Currently, the party supporters are disconnected because of the party leadership not meeting the voters.”