New Delhi: After playing a "masterstroke" in Punjab by appointing a Dalit-Sikh as the Chief Minister, the Congress party is of the view that this move will also have a "tremendous" impact in the ensuing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Congress believes that through Charanjeet Singh Channi, the party will be able to win the confidence of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh as well.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, UP Congress leader Vivek Bansal said, "Congress being a national party and whatever decision it will take in one of the states will have a cascading effect in the rest of the states where the party has a sizeable presence. It would have a tremendous impact on UP as well in reference to the vote bank that they are talking about or even for the SC community as well as the OBC."
However, in Uttar Pradesh, Congress will have to face tough competition with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has a very strong vote base of Dalits in the state. In addition to this, BSP is also trying hard to form a Dalit-Brahmin social alliance for the upcoming Assembly polls, an experiment that was successfully conducted during the 2007 elections.
Also read: Appointment of Dalit CM in Punjab will find its echo in ensuing UP polls: Cong
"BSP is withering in its own contradiction. They are wooing the other castes and sections while their own cadre has been marginalized or ignored," Bansal said. He further added, "Be it may Brahmin community or others, they are feeling ignored, left out and the obvious reason is that a particular caste is being pampered or they feel that this is the present dispensation of the state, while they are being given a very long amble by the administration and by the party, which is ruling the state."
Congress also had to face a setback when its young Turk and the party's face of Brahmin community, Jitin Prasada, had joined hands with BJP.
"It is not the individual's suo moto. Individual matters to an extent. It is the perception of the community as such that they are being left out. I don't think any perceptible impact on that community and because of the induction of that leader. To be very honest, except for the name, the leader doesn't have any presence or impact on this community," the Congress leader asserted.
Meanwhile, it is being reported that after Channi had taken an oath as the Punjab CM, Samajwadi Party may also consider forming an alliance with Congress. Apart from this, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also had a meeting with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad amid the talk of Congress preparing a strategy to woo Dalits.
Also read: Appointment of Dalit CM in Punjab will find its echo in ensuing UP polls: Cong
