The Congress is relying on its Union ministers to revive the organisation in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The AICC has allotted 12 districts each to six ministers hoping that they would deliver this time.

A full-scale media war between the Congress and the BJP will break in the coming days with the Sonia Gandhi-led party deciding to puncture “Team Modi’s” campaign through social media.

The Congress has virtually defused talk of a third alternative, popularly known as third front, by winning over Samjawadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday played the “aam aadmi” card, suggesting that their problems in day-to-day life are more important than the “Mandir” issue.

The BJP could stand to gain further in Vidarbha if the Congress creates a separate Telangana state due to electoral compulsions before the Lok Sabha elections. This is becoming clearer.

The Congress is facing three Ms — Modi, media and middle class — in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi in 2013 and the Lok Sabha elections next year.

The Congress chief ministers are lagging behind in launching offensive against the BJP’s chief election manager Narendra Modi who is building up the campaign on Hindu polarisation.

Amid growing trends towards polarisation, regional satraps will find it difficult to check national parties like the Congress and the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress will play the Narendra Modi card in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls to fan the factional fights in the ruling BJP and check the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

“Groupism will not be tolerated.” This was the message Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi gave his new team in the organisation ahead of crucial state Assembly polls and the Lok Sabha election in 2014.