With stakes high in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is desperately trying to get the “magical caste formula” of the past, which saw it getting the lion’s share of votes till 20 years ago.
In a rally in this temple city last Sunday, Congress President Sonia Gandhi invoked the name of the late Brahmin leader Kamla Pati Tripathi, who was once the CM of the state and also Union Minister for several years, to woo back the community it has lost in the recent years.
“I recall with pride Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi and his contribution,” she told the audience. In an apparent bid to woo the minorities, she also referred to the plight of the weaving community (Muslims) who have been hit hard in recent years with machines and power looms replacing artisans in large numbers.
Congress organised a function recently in Delhi also in the memory of Tripathi, whom it has now reinvented as a tall Brahmin leader, whose name could be used politically to counter the social engineering of the ruling BSP.