Sonia Gandhi’s UP roadshow gives Congress a head start

NEW DELHI: An impressive roadshow by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Varanasi on Tuesday despite ill health has given a head start to the party’s campaign for

NEW DELHI: An impressive roadshow by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Varanasi on Tuesday despite ill health has given a head start to the party’s campaign for next year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

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The decision to launch the campaign from Varanasi was a strategic one. The Congress wanted to send a message that it is no longer a marginal player in the state and is ready to take on the BJP with a show of strength in Modi’s bastion.

Besides lifting the morale of party workers, Gandhi’s show was also aimed at consolidating the traditional BrahminMuslim-Dalit vote bank of the Congress.

Around 15% of Varanasi’s population comprises of Muslims, while the Dalits make up 17%, Brahmins 15%, and Yadavs 10% of the populace. Others constitute the remaining 43%.

Congress managers were keen to show party’s organisational skills were intact despite repeated poor show in the past elections. Out of the total 403 seats, the Congress had won just 28 in the 2012 assembly elections.

Organisational weaknesses has often been blamed for the Congress’ poor show in Uttar Pradesh where the party is desperately seeking a revival of its political fortunes after being thrown out of power in 1989. Veteran leader ND Tiwari was the last Congress chief minister in UP.

Varanasi found itself in the spotlight in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when Modi decided to contest from the city. He was challenged by AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal while the Congress had fielded Bhumihar leader Ajay Rai.

Ahead of the 2014 polls, the Congress had put Varanasi in the list of 16 constituencies where it planned to hold United States-style primaries to ensure that the grassroots workers have a say in the selection of party candidates.

However, it was subsequently taken off from the list after Modi decided to contest from the seat.

On Tuesday, Muslims came out in large numbers to make Gandhi’s roadshow a success. She also sent a message to Dalits by garlanding the statue of BR Ambedkar at the start of the roadshow.

She was to end her campaign by garlanding the statue of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kamlapati Tripathi, but she fell ill before that.

Later in a statement, the Congress chief attacked the Modi government accusing it of being pro-industrialists and pro-rich and ignoring the poor, backward classes and minorities.

Political analysts are of the view that Gandhi’s roadshow will “influence and inspire confidence” among the Congress cadre and supporters. “The beginning is good,” said Prof Badri Narayan of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). “This is for the first time that we are seeing an organised campaign by the Congress,” he said.

Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit termed the Varanasi roadshow as “epic”.

“I don’t think a rally of this magnitude has ever happened in our nation. If this is the response in the PM’s constituency, you can very well imagine what will happen in other places,” she said. With the successful roadshow, the Congress hopes that it will once again emerge as a key player in the country’s most populous state.

However, winning the polls remains a tall order and much depends on the party’s ability to sustain this political tempo for the rest of the campaign.