Sir,
There was complete demoralisation in Congress camp when SP-BSP-RLD alliance left only two seats for Congress in Rae Bareli and Amethi. But the announcement of Priyanka Gandhi becoming AICC general secretary for Eastern UP has had an electrifying effect on Congress workers, who are now counting the seats they can win UP.
The Congress leadership felt let down by the manner in which BSP national president accused the party of ignoring the problems of dalits and blamed the party for corruption. The aggressive Akhilesh campaign against Congress has been attributed to his eagerness to keep Mayawati in good humour and he has even preferred to play second fiddle to her. It seems that Akhilesh is more keen for alliance than Mayawati, who has had no representation in the Lok Sabha as the party had lost in all seats it contested. But Samajwadi Party had five seats.
For over two decades Congress workers used to demand a bigger role for Priyanka beyond Rae Bareli and Amethi during every Lok Sabha election and sought her campaign in their areas. But things are not as easy as they appear to be for Priyanka as the party has been out of power since 1989 and dealing with the caste politics of UP is a tough call. The Congress used to be a power force to reckon with in UP due to its support from Brahmins, Harijans and Muslims.
But since 1989 Congress has lost Brahmins to BJP while the Harijans crossed over to BSP and Muslims joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav ever since he ordered firing on the kar sewaks to protect Babri Masjid. Also, due to the Kamandal politics, Congress lost its vote bank to various other parties.
Now Congress has only two MPs in Lok Sabha from UP and six MLAs in the assembly, accounting for six per cent vote share. At a time when Kamandal politics (clamour for Ram temple and Mandal) has been reinvigorated, it would be a Herculean task for Priyanka, despite here charisma, to resurrect a party organisation that has almost been defunct all these years.
Pardeep Kapoor
on e-mail
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel