UP Assembly elections: Congress banking on Brahmin-Thakur combination

A Brahmin-Thakur-Mulsim combination could bring surprises in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, predicted the Congress at a time when the Samajwadi Party is facing anti-incumbency, the BSP is not attracting the upper castes and the BJP is in a dilemma over whether or not to project a chief ministerial candidate.

The Congress party, which has been out of power for over two decades and slipped to fourth position in UP, is sensing some changes at the ground level. According to the Congress, the ruling Samajwadi Party is on the defensive over the deteriorating law and order situation while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking “care” of the Mayawati-led BSP, whose leaders are quitting and throwing allegations about how tickets are being “sold”.

The BJP, which had won over 70 of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP without the “mandir” issue in 2014, is now lacking the confidence to come to power on its own, said senior Congress MPs while drawing attention to how the saffron party had projected chief ministerial candidates in the Assam and Delhi Assembly elections.

The Congress’ campaign committee chief for the UP polls, Dr Sanjay Sinh, feels that the state Assembly polls would not be fought on the traditional lines. If the BJP’s moves in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab have proved wrong, it failed to gauge the mood of the people in the Bihar and Delhi Assembly polls.

Dr Singh, also the sitting MP, is tight-lipped on number of seats the Congress would fight and whether or not it will have pre-poll alliances with the anti-BJP parties.

Although Brahmins have shifted to the the BJP since 1989, they are feeling leaderless after the retirement of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from active politics. They want respect. They are comfortable with the Congress which has projected Sheila Dikshit as its CM candidate eight months before the polls. And a combination of Brahmin-Thakur would attract minorities who want to check the BJP.

The Congress is assessing whether the BJP can play the Thakur card and whther it be acceptable to OBCs, backward castes and most backward castes as well as Brahmins. Home minister Rajnath Singh is the only face the BJP has among Thakurs, but the hardliners are also pressing for their names.