Rahul will attend 10 public meeting in UP

New Delhi, January 11: As Lok Sabha Elections are nearing, the Chief leaders are busy with their party activities and communicating with people, and some leaders are forming an alliance. In this occasion, the Congress party is preparing to contest all the 80 constituencies on its own and the party chief started a vigorous campaign in the state, it may not be part of SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul planning for 10 public meetings in Uttar Pradesh in February and is slated to make more frequent visits to the state to keep in track in the polls.

"He (Gandhi) will address 10 public meetings in the state in February," party leader P. L. Punia told.

He said Gandhi would be in the state "every third day" next month. Punia said the Congress was open to being part of an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party to defeat the BJP but "we are fighting on our own in any case".

The supremos of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are planning to hold a joint press conference in Lucknow on Saturday and are likely to announce about the seat-sharing formula between this two parties.

There two parties may share 37 seats each and leave two for Ajit Singh s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). they may also leave two seats for Amethi and Rae Bareli for the Congress. While Amethi is represented by Rahul Gandhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi represents Rae Bareli. These were the only two seats the Congress won in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in which the BSP drew a blank and the SP managed to win five seats. The BJP swept 71 seats while its ally Apna Dal got two seats in a four-way contest.

The Congress had won 22 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2009. In an interview earlier this week, Gandhi had said that his party will be a strong force in Uttar Pradesh.

"The Congress idea is very powerful for Uttar Pradesh. So, we are very confident in our ability in Uttar Pradesh and we will surprise people... I just want to say again that (to) underestimate the Congress in UP is a mistake," he had said.

Gandhi has also talked about the party s willingness to form a larger grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

"We are trying to bring opposition together? UP is work in progress. I have heard some statements in the media but we are going to work together and make sure that we defeat Mr. Modi," he had said.