[It may be just a coincidence that seven of 12
RS candidates from UP belong to the upper caste, but it is surely not a
coincidence that both the Congress and the BJP are reportedly looking up to
project upper caste candidates as their CM faces. In a State where Dalits and
OBC have called the shots for ages, both the BJP and the Congress may have
their own compulsion to engage in such identity politics.]
By Navin Upadhyay
It may be just a coincidence that seven of 12
RS candidates from UP belong to the upper caste, but it is surely not a
coincidence that both the Congress and the BJP are reportedly looking up to
project upper caste candidates as their CM faces. In a State where Dalits and
OBC have called the shots for ages, both the BJP and the Congress may have
their own compulsion to engage in such identity politics.
If Prashant Kishor has his way, Sheila
Dikshit, a Brahmin, will be the Congress chief ministerial candidate from UP,
and Priyanka Vadra will be the face of the party’s campaign in the State.
Sheila is not unknown to UP politics. Between 1984 and 1989, she represented
Kannauj parliamentary constituency of Uttar Pradesh. She was married to Vinod
Dikshit, son of former West Bengal Governor Uma Shankar Dikshit, who belonged
to Ugu village of Unnao in UP.
But in a deeply divided party like the Congress,
Kishor has to first fight with the “enemy” within. Sources said that Kishor has
told Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi that if someone like Dikshit is roped in as the CM candidate and Priyanka
made the face of the party’s campaign, both Brahmins and women will be
attracted to the party in a big way.
Sources said that while Rahul is agreeable to
the proposition and has given his go-ahead to Kishor to prepare the party
strategy on these lines, a section of senior Congress leaders are opposed to
the idea. Many of these leaders are old-timers who are upset as Rahul has
apparently given a carte blanche to Kishor to do whatever he pleases to do to
bring the Congress back in the race in UP. Given Kishor’s proximity to Rahul,
it is a matter of time before the party formally projects Priyanka as its
campaign head and also fields Sheila or another Brahmin as the CM candidate.
Kishor is reported to have told Rahul that if
the party took steps to woo 13 per cent Brahmins who have nowhere to go in UP,
in that case a sizeable section of the Muslim could also desert Mulayam given
the fact that the SP chief acted as a spoiler in Bihar by fighting against the
“secular” Mahagathbandan.
In alliance with Nitish Kumar, whose caste
men Kurmis constitute nine per cent of the population in UP, Kishor hopes to
weave a “winning” combination” in the State. “You don’t need more than 30 per
cent vote to win the battle of UP,” Kishor has reportedly told Rahul.
While Rajnath Singh has denied reports that
he would be the CM candidate of the BJP in the State, the BJP may be under
pressure to opt for an upper caste leader as its CM’s face after it recently
appointed an OBC, Keshav Prasad Maurya, as its State unit chief. So far there
is no clarity if the BJP will repeat the Assam experience of projecting a CM
nominee, but in case it does so, it is very likely that the party will bank on
an upper caste leader.
