Even before the gloom of the recent Assembly elections has been lifted, the Congress and the BJP now face another major challenge in Uttar Pradesh where local bodies’ elections are due to be held in May.
While the mood in the Samajwadi Party, after its stunning victory in the Assembly polls, is upbeat about the civic elections, the Congress and the BJP are resting in the realms of uncertainty and indecision.
Elections for 13 nagar nigams and their 1,040 wards, 194 nagar palika parishads and their 5,097 wards and 423 nagar panchayats and their 5,153 wards are to be held in May. Of the 13 nagar nigams, the seats in Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Aligarh (SC) and Saharanpur (OBC) have been reserved for women.
The state leaders of the Congress and the BJP have already submitted their resignations to the party high command after the debacle in the Assembly polls but the decision on their resignations is still pending.
“The Congress high command has not taken any decision on UP as yet and it is only natural that state leaders are not taking any initiative on their own. The party leadership, we are told, is pre-occupied with the Parliament session and other issues and UP is not on their priority list at the moment. What the leaders do not realise is that if we plunge into the civic polls without adequate preparations, the result could be worse than the Assembly polls,” said a veteran party leader.
Though UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi has been holding meetings with party workers and encouraging them to work for the civic polls, the total absence of Central party leaders in the exercise is having a demoralising impact on the party cadres.
A similar situation prevails in the UP BJP where no decision has been taken on the resignation of UP BJP president Surya Pratap Shahi.
“Mr Shahi has almost withdrawn from taking party decisions and other leaders are also shying away from taking a lead. The BJP used to be strong in urban centres but this time, the situation is so bad that we do not even have strong contestants for the posts,” said a former BJP minister.
The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, is determined to make inroads into the urban areas with these civic polls.