A day after SP and BSP announced their alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Sunday said that it will contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state on its own.
The leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, ” We will fight on all 80 seats of Uttar Pradesh in the coming Lok Sabha elections. We are fully prepared. And just like the Congress emerged number one party in Uttar Pradesh in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, we will fight on our own and win twice those number of seats in the upcoming elections.”
Taking about the SP- BSP alliance, he said, ” We didn’t break this alliance, public should know that. We had earlier also said that we’re ready to walk with every party that wants to defeat BJP. But we can’t force anyone. They’ve (SP-BSP) closed this chapter, so we’ll continue this fight for defeating BJP on our own.”
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However, the party has kept the doors of a possible alliance open saying if any secular party which is competent to fight the BJP and willing to go with it (Congress), then it will be accommodated.
“Everyone knows that parliament fight is between the Congress and the BJP. We’ll certainly take the help of like minded-parties and respect such parties who are fighting the BJP,” Azad said.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the elections, the party is planning to hold 13 rallies in 13 zones in Uttar Pradesh in February. According to reports, In each zone, six Lok Sabha seats will be identified and Rahul Gandhi will hold one rally in each zone.