To win Uttar Pradesh, Congress makes a cocktail of BJP, BSP and SP formulas

NEW DELHI: A close look at the Congress list of candidates for Uttar Pradesh shows the party giving maximum representation to the Dalits, Muslims and upper castes, which used to form the party’s rainbow constituency during its heydays.

The party on Saturday released a list of 11 candidates, taking the total to 107 as its leaders continue to be in talks with ally Samajwadi Party to avoid what they called “friendly contests” in a couple of seats where both have fielded their nominees. The SP had offered the Congress 105 seats.

In a state where caste considerations ride high during electoral battles, Dalits form the largest social segment on the Congress list with 28 nominees. Keeping in mind the reported unease among many Dalit sub-castes with the Jatav-dominated Bahujan SamajParty, the Congress has taken care to field 18 of its Dalit candidates from the sub-castes, including Valmiki (5), Pasi (3), Dhobi (3) and Katheria, Kori, Kol and Dusadh (one each), while nominating only 10 from Jatavs.

Half the Dalit candidates are under 45 years of age, a source involved in the exercise said.

Supported by Rahul Gandhi, an AICC think tank under the chairman of party’s SC department, K Raju, has been working on a ‘Mission on youth leadership building among Dalits’ in UP, as part of efforts to repair its Dalit base in the state that was hugely dented by Mayawati’s BSP.

If one major attraction of the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP to align with the Congress was the presumption that the latter can help reign in a large Muslim consolidation along with SP’s Yadav votes, the Congress has responded by fielding 19 Muslims. With BJP’s core focus on upper castes and non-Yadav OBCs, it is crucial for the Congress to chip away some upper caste votes for the alliance.

Its list, understandably, has as many as 35 candidates from various upper caste communities: 15 Brahmins, 14 Rajputs, four Vaish and two Bhumihars. Incidentally, among the Assembly segments coming under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, Congress has fielded some entrenched upper caste leaders, such as Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Ajay Rai and Laliteshpathi Tripathi, even as there is considerable opposition to the re-nomination of Anil Srivastav from Varanasi Cantonment seat despite his losing the seat thrice.

Of the 11 OBC candidates on the list, only four belong to the Yadavs. Among the rest, five are from the Kurmi community and two from Jat. There are also four from Punjabi communities. It has also re-nominated almost all its 20 plus sitting MLAs, even as the list also figures a few who recently joined the party from rival sides.

The Congress-SP leadership is hoping to trip the BJP challenge and overcome the incumbency burden by banking on rallying a formidable Muslim-Yadav consolidation around the alliance. They are also hoping to bring in some Dalit and Brahmin votes along with the good will among a section of urban youth.

On the flip side, the inner worries of the Congress is whether the upper caste and non-Yadav OBCs, feeling let out by the hugely Yadav-patronised SP rule, will prefer the BJP or the BSP. Having left nearly 300 seats to its foeturned-ally SP, the Congress leadership also has a task to ensure that its traditional supporters, especially those who were aspiring to fight on Congress tickets in the seats ‘conceded’ to the partner, do not resist voting for SP nominees.

Similarly, Akhilesh Yadav has to ensure that his party’s Yadav base, traditionally fed on anti-Congress sentiments, voted for the ‘hand’ symbol of the Congress. As of now, the leaderships of both parties are unitedly working overtime to cement the alliance, from top to bottom.