UP Assembly polls: Congress to fall back on Brahmin-Muslim-Dalit combination to clinch power

By Siddharth Sharma
New Delhi [India], January 29 : The Congress Party, which has been out of power in Uttar Pradesh for over three decades, is betting on its old caste-community formula to win the ensuing Assembly Poll battle in the state.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party's election in-charge for in UP, has indicated that the party will be depending on the Brahmin-Dalit-Muslim combination to wrest power from the ruling BJP.
So far, the party has announced 255 candidates for the 403 Assembly constituencies in the state. Of these 56 hail from the Dalit community while 89 belong to the other two communities.
Although both the Congress and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claims that candidates were selected with focus of giving 40 per cent tickets to women, however, preference has been given to youth and to those who are fighting against the system.
For instance, the mother of Unnao Rape Victim has been given a Congress ticket. Actor-activist Sadaf Jafar, who was arrested and jailed for protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA)and was jailed has been given a ticket to contest from the Lucknow seat.
An analysis of the list of candidates shows that the party has also distributed tickets on the basis of caste.
Out of 56 candidates from the Dalit community, 26 are Jatav, 13 are from Pasi.
It must be noted that 20 per cent of the candidates are Muslims and 16 per cent belong to the Brahmin community.
A senior leader of the state Congress told ANI, "The party has fielded candidates from every caste and community. We have fielded 40 per cent of women candidates, fulfilling a promise made ahead of the elections. However, the Brahmin-Dalit-Muslim combination has proven to have given results for the party in the past."