Congress party to contest 24 seats in UP

New Delhi, Mar 5 (ANI): Congress party has declared its first list of 24 candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming general elections.

Party President Sonia Gandhi will contest from Rae-Barely and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal and Mahavir Prasad will try for re-elction from Kanpur and Bansgaon.

Filmstar and former Samajwadi Party MP Raj Babbar will try his luck from Fatehpur Sikri.

Some of the other important candidates are Begum Noor Bano from Rampur, Salman Khursid, Farrukhabad, Pravin Singh Airon, Bareilly, R.P.N. Singh, Kushinagar, Jagdambika Pal, Domariyaganj, Bhola Pandey, Salempur, Nirmal Khatri, Faizabad and Beni Prasad Verma from Gonda.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which were looking to forge an alliance in the state, are still negotiating a seat sharing formula.

The Congress' list includes seats the SP wants to contest, a move that could put the alliance in a jeopardy.

"We have declared the first list of 24 names, but even today the doors for discussions are open for SP. We want to jointly fight the forces of communalism, corruption and casteism," said Digvijay Singh, state's party in-charge on Wednesday evening.

Singh said that the SP, which is the main opposition party in Uttar Pradesh, should be more accommodating.

"We have always respected Mulayam Singh Yadav and we have got great regards for SP. But then they also have to take into account the aspirations of Congress party men in Uttar Pradesh," he added.

Besides BSP and SP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to regain a foothold while the Congress is desperate to break the jinx of being a marginal player in the state. (ANI)