Sonia, Rahul not to campaign for Uttar Pradesh bypolls

After facing the worst electoral debacle, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi has decided not to campaign for the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, reports stated on Friday.

Sonia, Rahul not to campaign for Uttar Pradesh bypolls

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: After facing the worst electoral debacle, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi has decided not to campaign for the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, reports stated on Friday.

Even as Rahul has opted out from campaigning in the state, many other top party leaders will be campaigning in the state for the upcoming bypolls, top officials said. According to a list released by the AICC, Rahul's name is missing among the 35 star campaigners for UP bypolls to be held in 11 Assembly constituencies.

Surprisingly, party leaders are failing to explain the reason behind the absence of Rahul Gandhi's name from the list. Party sources, however, downplayed it saying that the Congress President, by convention, never campaigns in by-polls.

As per the list, senior party leaders like Moti Lal Vora, Gulam Nabi Aazad, Digvijay Singh and Bhupender Hooda will campaign in the Uttar Pradesh.  

The seats going for elections include Noida, Lucknow East, Saharanpur Nagar, Bijnore, Thakurdwara, Nighasan, Hamirpur, Charkhan, Sirathu, Balha, Rohaniya and Sirathu in Uttar Pradesh. The process of filing nominations has already started and the last date is August 27.

Rahul Gandhi had once campaigned in a Lok Sabha by-poll in favour of party candidate Raj Babbar in 2009, where he was fielded against Dimple Yadav, the daughter-in-law of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Gandhi was, however not the party Vice President then.

The stakes for BJP are high in UP as 10 of these 11 seats are being vacated by its leaders who have been elected MPs while Rohaniya seat is being vacated by ally Apna Dal as its leader, Anupriya Patel was also elected to Lok Sabha.

Earlier, party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry had said that Congress will go all alone in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly byelections.

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