The solution sounds simple, but actually it is not considering the importance of the seats in question. Six of the 21 seats fall in Gandhis’ stronghold, said a source in the party.
The SP chief Mulayam has often spared the two Lok Sabha seats from a contest on a quid pro quo basis, but in an assembly election every seat will matter. For instance, Congress will want to contest the Amethi assembly constituency from where Mulayam’s favourite minister Gayatri Prajapati was declared elected. He had defeated Amita Singh, wife of Congress senior leader Sanjay Singh.
In fact, party sources reveal the Congress high command will want to contest all the 10 assembly segments that are part of Gandhis’ Lok Sabha constituencies — Rae Bareli and Amethi.
After party’s dismal performance in 2012, Priyanka Gandhi had conceded that the Congress defeat in the two prime constituencies sent a wrong signal across the nation.
Another difficult seat could be Marihan assembly constituency in east UP from where Lalitesh Pati Tripathi is trying to recreate the magic of the famous Tripathi family in the region, including parts of Bihar. Kamlapati Tripathi is his great grandfather. He is described as Rahul Gandhi’s yuva face.
Also, on many of these seats, the victory margin also ranges between a few hundred to 2000 votes.
(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
