RAHUL Gandhi might be appealing to people to rise above identity politics and vote for good governance but the Congress has drawn up a meticulous plan to carve out some space in the intricate caste labyrinth of Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress leadership realises that the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have sustained their supremacy in the state primarily because they have a fixed “base vote”. While the Samajwadis have their M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) axis, the BSP has the Jatav vote, which accounts for 12 per cent of the population. Combined with stray support from other communities, this has helped their candidates win. The BJP created a hardline Hindu vote bank around Ram temple but that fizzled out as the movement lost steam.

The Congress, which had ruled the state for four decades with the support of Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims, found itself empty-handed when Atal Bihari Vajpayee lured the Brahmins away, Mayawati won over the Dalits and the Muslims aligned with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Rahul, who is spearheading the party’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh, has approved a plan to create a Muslim-Kurmi combination after a study found there were 107 Assembly constituencies where Muslim and Kurmi voters numbered over 50,000 and could decisively sway the outcome.

Candidates were selected according to this plan, ignoring the local leadership’s cry for a focus on the upper castes. Beni Prasad Verma, the most important Kurmi leader in the state, was made cabinet minister at the Centre and included in Rahul’s inner circle. Leaders like Salim Sherwani and Rashid Masood who defected to the Congress from the Samajwadi Party were given importance and the Union government announced a sub-quota for Muslims within the 27 per cent OBC quota.

The Congress has taken the plan seriously because most of its 22 MPs come from the areas dominated by Kurmis and Muslims. The party feels this combination, along with a chunk of upper-caste votes and some non-Jatav Dalit votes, will keep its candidates afloat in over 100 constituencies.

Senior leaders said there was no emphasis on the Brahmins and other upper castes, who account for around 11 per cent votes, because they naturally lean towards the Congress when disenchanted with the BSP and the BJP. Having done this groundwork to set up a base, Rahul is now fiercely pursuing the development agenda to attract apolitical and floating voters who are upset with the state’s backwardness.

-The Telegraph