In the wake of the recent drubbing in parliamentary elections as well as confusion over who will lead the party and how the organisation will take shape in the coming days, some senior Congress leaders are advocating to drop the idea of contesting the byelections. The election to 11 Assembly segments have been necessitated after 11 legislators from the state won the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders gave advise that it would be better that first strengthen the organisation and then before the public with some public-related issues. The workers and leaders are demoralised not just with the recent defeat but also over uncertainty over Rahul Gandhi continuing as president. Rahul Gandhi had already submitted his resignation and refused to bow to the  demand to withdraw it. Delay in his decision has also badly affected the state-level organisations as almost all the units, including UP, are to be revamped.

Sources in the party confirmed that some veteran party leaders, including some former state presidents, sent a letter to Rahul Gandhi, urging him to concentrate on building the party organisation before contesting elections. “The byelections to 11 Assembly segments will not change the complexion of the state Assembly since the BJP is way ahead of the halfway mark but if the Congress does not fare well then the party will face maximum embarrassment,” claimed a former state president who was against contesting bypolls under present circumstances.

The veteran party leader feel that it is better that the Congress should start preparing for the 2022 Assembly elections which is still two-and-a half years away. “We have enough time till the next Assembly elections, so we should learn from the BJP when it comes to mobilising party cadres. The party should take up one Assembly segment at a time and ensure that the organisation is built down to the booth level,” the leader said while stressing on strengthening of organisation.

“There are 403 Assembly segments. And even if we devote one day to one segment, we will build up the organisation within 13 months after which the party can start selection of candidates,” claimed a former minister in the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. “There is no doubt that every Congress worker and leader now feels that time has come for us to end our differences and work collectively towards strengthening the party. I agree that we should avoid contesting byelections unless we are very sure of the results,” the former minister added.

It may be mentioned that by-elections to 11 Assembly segments are to be held in UP. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, a legislator from Lucknow Cantt, has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Allahabad and her Assembly seat has fallen vacant.

Similarly, Satyadev Pachauri won from Kanpur and his Assembly seat Govind Nagar will fall vacant. SP Singh Baghel has won from the Agra Lok Sabha seat and his Assembly seat Tundla will face a byelection.

Similarly, Apna Dal MLA from Pratapgarh Sangam Lal Gupta, is now an MP from Pratapgarh. Saharanpur BJP MLA Pradeep Kumar has won the Kairana Lok Sabha seat.

BJP MLA from Chitrakoot RK Singh Patel has won the Banda Lok Sabha seat while Barabanki MLA Upendra Rawat is now an MP from the same seat.

Bahraich legislator Akshaywar Lal has won the same Lok Sabha seat and in Aligarh, BJP MLA Rajvir Singh has scored a victory on the Hathras seat.

SP MLA Azam Khan vacated his Rampur seat since he has won the Lok Sabha elections from the same Lok Sabha seat. In Ambedkar Nagar, BSP MLA Ritesh Pandey has won the Lok Sabha elections and his Jalalpur Assembly seat will also fall vacant.