Congress' Rahul card comes a cropper in UP polls

Lucknow, May 11 (UNI) The Congress' last-ditch attempt to rope in Gandhi family scion and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi to mobilise its votebase and retrieve the lost ground in Uttar Pradesh came a cropper.

While Rahul's roadshows and public meetings evoked a massive public response, the Congress machinery failed to cash in on the response. Though all the results have so far not been declared, the Congress has managed to win 22 seats. ''The figure is more or less likely to remain the same,'' a top party functionary admitted here.

AICC president and Rae Bareli MP Sonia Gandhi, too, pitched in by holding several rallies in support of party candidates. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also held five rallies in the state where he described Rahul as the next generation leader.

Rahul's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also held roadshows in Rae Bareli and Amethi, but to no avail.

The Congress had won 25 seats in the 2002 assembly elections. But in the same year, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) witnessed a split as eight of its MLAs formed Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal (ABCD). The incident brought down the number of Congress MLAs to 17.

In the 2004 general elections, Congress' Aligarh and Ghaziabad MLAs graduated to the Lok Sabha. In the ensuing by-elections to the two seats, Congress failed to retain Aligarh and Ghaziabad. The Congress' tally then stood at 15.

Later that year, one of its MLAs died in a freak accident, further bringing down its total in assembly to 14. But soon after it managed to win two bypolls, which helped it increase its strength to 16.

Recently, one of its MLAs left the party and stood unattached in the assembly.

UNI