New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday played the “Brahmin” card, projecting senior leader and three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as its candidate for chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due next year.
Congress strategists say the move will mount pressure on the BJP to project a face for the post of CM in UP against the ruling Samajwadi Party and the BSP, besides the Congress.
The AICC’s announcement of its CM candidate eight months before the polls makes it clear it is taking the battle seriously. Brahmins, Muslims and dalits used to be the winning combination of the grand old party in UP. While dalits switched over to the BSP, the Muslim vote split between the SP and the BSP after the Mandal and Mandir agitations in the 1990s. Ms Dikshit, however, will not contest the UP Assembly polls, the party clarified. Ms Dikshit said she would go into the polls in UP with “conviction and confidence” about resurrecting the party’s fortunes in the state.
Bid to project Rahul or Priyanka rejected
Thanking the Congress leadership for giving her a “big responsibility”, Ms Dixit said Ms Priyanka Gandhi would be a “very big asset” for the party as workers want her to campaign vigorously in UP.
The AICC is acting on the suggestions of election strategist Prashant Kishor. Mr Kishor wanted the Congress to fight the battle under either Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi or Sheila Dikshit. Congress managers rejected the idea of making Mr Gandhi or Priyanka the party’s face in UP but agreed to project Ms Dikshit.
Thursday’s announcement could shift the focus from Ms Priyanka Gandhi to the state leaders who will face the BJP, BSP and SP. The Congress, which believes the caste factor always works in UP (rather than the development plank), has played the Brahmin card to try and dent the BJP’s upper-caste support base on one hand and, on the other, to attract minorities and Dalits to it, to some extent. The Congress is not bothered about corruption charges against her in the Rs 400-crore water tanker scam because top SP and BSP leaders also face such charges.
AICC general secretary in-charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the government or an investigating agency should first conduct an inquiry into corruption charges against the current CMs of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and some Central and Maharashtra ministers.
