The Congress seems to be leaving no stone unturned for the November 7 by-elections in the state with several union ministers campaigning for the party candidates.

While Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting for Raj Babbar in the Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency last week, union ministers and parliamentarians, like Azharuddin, are campaigning in all the 11 Assembly constituencies.

According to party leaders, the mobilisation is not just for short-term gains, but to send out a message that the party meant business when it claimed that it had the answer to the state’s problems.

The preparation for the upcoming elections is in stark contrast to the four by-elections, which was held in August, when the Congress candidates were left on their own.

The Congress lost all the seats and the party leaders realised that the momentum created by the good show in the Lok Sabha election will have to be maintained if the party wanted to fulfill Rahul Gandhi’s “Mission 2012”.

Now, the union ministers and parliamentarians are assuring the voters that they “will try to do their best from Delhi”, and that they should elect a Congress government in the next Assembly elections to bring an end to the “20-year-old misrule” in the state by the non-Congress governments.

Union Ministers like Salman Khursheed, Pradeep Jain, Jitin Prasada and Rahul Gandhi spoke on similar lines during the campaigning.

“It is not a hidden fact that we are putting additional force in this election. We plan to make use of these by-elections to instill confidence within the people in our leadership,” said a senior party leader.

... contd.