(Left) Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad speaks to the media as UP Congress chief Raj Babbar looks on in Lucknow on January 13. PTIThe Congress announced on Sunday it would contest all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh and was willing to accommodate secular parties, a day after the BSP and the Samajwadi Party formally announced that each would contest from 38 seats but leave out Amethi and Rae Bareli for the Congress. Amethi is the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, and Rae Bareli is Sonia Gandhi's Parliament seat. "The Congress will contest on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and defeat the BJP," he said, expressing hope that the party would double its tally of 21 seats in the 2009 general elections. "On the contrary, they are saying that the party would have had to contest 25 seats, but now it would be contesting all 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Source: The Telegraph January 13, 2019 12:11 UTC