UP IN THE AIR

With the Lok Sabha elections months away, BJP rivals in Uttar Pradesh are keeping their cards close to their chests

- PUJA AWASTHI

Uttar Pradesh's political waters are calm, for now. Or perhaps, that is just how it seems, as no grand alliances have been formed, no active partnerships sought and there has been no getting together of like-minded parties.

The 2024 elections are still months away. That is too long a time in the normally turbulent politics of the state. No party will be the first to announce that it is seeking an alliance and thus appear as a needy, weak partner. Dive in a bit though, and the start of some churn is visible.

The state's Congress unit, for instance, is buoyed by the success in the Karnataka elections and hopes to do better in the five upcoming assembly elections. "For now, our focus is on preparing to contest all 80 seats (in the Lok Sabha elections)," said senior party leader Veerendra Madan. "There is a series of meetings on; let us see what comes out of them, but the high command's decision will be binding on us."

Neither Madan nor anyone else is willing to go on record to decode how a win in the state would be possible without an alliance that brings together the anti-BJP vote. Especially as a large chunk of the upper-caste vote-once a given for the Congress has long since been swept into the BJP's rising tide.