Congress betting it all on a 'miracle' in UP

BJP, which swept the 2014 national election in the state winning 71 of its 80 Lok Sabha seats, hopes to extend that victory to the 2017 UP assembly elections BJP did not fare very well in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh in the last assembly election, and Congress hopes to take advantage making inroads   

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar today expressed hope that there will be a "miracle" in favour of his party in the upcoming assembly election in the state.   

"The people of Uttar Pradesh have always been springing surprises - be it 2004, 2007, 2012 or 2017 - this time, they are going to do a miracle in favour of Congress," he said.    

Babbar is here to take part in Congress president Sonia Gandhi's road show in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents.   

Responding to questions from media persons if road shows and other programmes would help the party at the hustings, he said, "Rest assured...we are among the people...Sonia is here to have darshan and take blessings of Baba Vishwanath in this holy month of Shravan."   

This is the third major programme of the party in the past few days after "27 said-UP behal" Delhi-Kanpur bus yatra and Rahul Gandhi's interactive session with booth level workers in Lucknow.   

Earlier, Sonia arrived here to a rousing reception by party workers for a six-km-long road show.   

Her cavalcade was accompanied by 5,000 strong contingents of motorcyclists from Lal Bahadur Shastri Babatpur airport to the circuit house.    

Huge banners and buntings have been put up by the party to make the roadshow successful and launch the poll campaign in the eastern region of the poll-bound state.