Cradle Rocks The Hand

By waving the promise of NYAY, the minimum income scheme for the poor, at the electorate, the Congress tries to take the wind out of the BJP’s sails—swollen so recently with muscular nationalism in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack and the following air strikes into Pakistan. Outlook does a ground check in politically crucial states to see how the Congress—faltering in forging alliances, flogging the old chestnut of Rafale and faced with the negligible impact of super-weapon Priyanka Gandhi Vadra—has navigated the pre-poll scrimmage.

- Salik Ahmad

THE Congress in Uttar Pradesh is always viewed through the bell jar of Amethi and Rae Bareli, but the bellwether of the voting behaviour lies someplace else—Allahabad and Phulpur. Several elections ago, these two used to be Congress strongholds with Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit as their able representatives in Parliament. But the party now struggles to find a foothold in what was once its backyard. In the 2014 general elections, the Congress finished fourth in both seats after the BJP, the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In the 2018 P hulpur bypoll, the Congress candidate got less than 20,000 votes, while the winner from the SP was miles ahead with 3.42 lakh votes.