UP Jodo Yatra launched: Cong aims to regain ground in west UP
“After regaining ground in west UP, we will be able to challenge the might of the BJP in east UP,” Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said.
The Congress’s UP Jodo Yatra that began from Saharanpur’s Gangoh town on Wednesday has been mapped out to prepare the ground for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with a strategy for the party, which has been out of power in the state since 1989 and at the Centre post 2014 parliamentary polls, to win over its traditional support base of Muslims and Dalits, especially in west UP.
“After regaining ground in west UP, we will be able to challenge the might of the BJP in east UP,” Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said.
The 20-day yatra will cover 11 districts and 16 Lok Sabha constituencies that have a large consolidation of the Muslim population.
The yatra began after party leaders offered puja at the Maa Shakumbhari Siddhpeeth temple.
It will conclude in Lucknow on January 12, Rai said, adding, “The yatra is to highlight the pain of farmers, labourers, traders, youth and women, who are unhappy with the government.”
The Lok Sabha constituencies in Rohilkhand region, including Saharanpur, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Rampur, Bareilly and Badaun have 35% to 40% Muslim voters who are the key to deciding the fate of candidates.
As the yatra will pass through the sugarcane belt of Uttar Pradesh, the Congress plans to mobilise support of the farmers.
“We will raise the issue of delay in the payment of pending arrears to the farmers and failure of the BJP government to revise the sugarcane rate during the yatra,” Rai said.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Bahujan Samaj Party bagged four seats -- Saharanpur, Bijnor, Nagina and Amroha -- while the Samajwadi Party won the Moradabad, Sambhal and Rampur Lok Sabha seats in this belt.
“The Rohilkhand region was a strong fort of the Congress. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the party won 21 seats in Uttar Pradesh, including Bareilly, Moradabad, Kheri and Dhaurhara in Rohilkhand region,” a Congress leader said.
Ground reports from West UP and Rohilkhand region indicate the Muslim community is leaning toward the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
During the yatra in Rohilkhand, the Congress plans to consolidate its hold over Muslims and convey to its supporters that it is working on the ground to challenge the BJP as well as to regain its support base captured by the SP and BSP, he said.
After the meeting of the INDIA bloc in New Delhi on Monday, the Congress plans to test the political mood in the Uttar Pradesh during the yatra.
Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders had told the central leaders at meeting on Sunday to negotiate aggressively for seat-sharing with the SP.
The party must get a respectable number of seats in the Lok Sabha election, they said.
During seat-sharing talks, the Congress will stake claim to the 21 Lok Sabha seats it had won in 2009.
Despite its defeat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress was able to get a good vote share in these 21 seats.
Asked about seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha elections in U.P, Rai on Wednesday said the national leadership will decide.
UP Congress spokesperson CP Rai said, “The yatra is being organized with the inspiration of the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress will highlight the anti-people policies of the BJP government at the Centre and in the state. The Congress will spread the message of non - violence and communal harmony during the yatra.”
Earlier, Congress leader Imran Masood said over the phone, “The officials were deliberately creating hassles for the yatra over its route. They have no issue with programmes of the RSS in the city area but had reservations for the yatra of the Congress.”
He said now permission had been given to route the yatra through the bypass road and “we will abide by it.”
