Lucknow, Dec 27 (PTI) A day before it turns 135, the Congress said it will fight the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh with more vigour and enthusiasm next year, while hoping that it will eventually set the momentum in its favour for the 2022 state Assembly election.

"The new decade beginning January 1, 2021 will herald a new beginning for the party in Uttar Pradesh. Two office-bearers of the UPCC (Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee) will be doing night halts at the panchayat level (in villages). They will listen to the woes, problems and grievances of people, youngsters and farmers, and seek their feedback. The programme will continue in February as well," state Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh told PTI on Sunday.

He said the party will be aiming to win most of the zila panchayats as also village pradhan seats in the state.

On Monday, the Congress will complete 135 years. According to its official website, the first session of the grand old party was held in Bombay (now Mumbai) from December 28-30 in 1885. It was chaired by Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee.

Asked to comment on state party chief Ajay Kumar Lallu going untraceable for a few hours late on Saturday night, Singh said, "If there is any leader among the opposition parties on whom the most number of cases have been registered by this government, then it is Lallu. Why did it take the police so much time to bring him from Jhansi to Lucknow? The police were unable to tell us about the location of our leader."

Meanwhile, the chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress Sewa Dal, Pramod Pandey, told PTI, "2021, which marks the starting point of a new decade, will see the Congress Sewa Dal in a new incarnation. We are going to analyse the reasons for the consecutive defeats for a period of 20 years in 10 Lok Sabha and 30 Assembly seats in the state."

He said the organisation has started holding "kisan panchayats" and "khaat sabhas" to reach out to farmers, adding that the programmes were launched four days ago.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)