This Article is From Mar 05, 2012

UP polls: Verdict for Rahul Gandhi

Lucknow: As the speculation over UP election results intensifies ahead of counting, for the Congress it will also be a verdict on Rahul Gandhi who has spent the last few months concentrating on the state and its various issues with various rallies, facing the heat and dust, and meeting people.

"Indian politicians have an obsession - that is prime ministership. I don't have that obsession. My obsession is that the way we are functioning here in UP," Mr Gandhi said in a press conference.

In his only press appearance right in the middle of the heat and dust of Uttar Pradesh campaigning, Rahul Gandhi played the high note of sacrifice scalding with scorn the ambition of rival PM hopefuls: BJP's L K Advani and BSP chief Mayawati.

"Congress will stand in these elections. Beyond this they will define UP politics. We have not conceded defeat in UP, we have conceded victory," he added.

Behind this confidence, analysts say, is seven years of work on the ground that has also lent itself to many memorable media moments. Like his overnight stay at a poor Dalit household.

Courting arrest, as he supported development-displaced farmers, led to the moving of a farmer-friendly land acquisition bill for the country.

His frequent appearances at poor Muslim quarters have culminated in Rs 3,000-crore Central package for backward Muslim weavers in a bid to reconsolidate the 18% Muslim vote bank that used to be the Congress' core support once and has drifted to the Samajwadi Party.

Mr Gandhi often repeated in rallies the Rs 7,000-crore Central package for backward Bundelkhand. And even the Rs 60,000-crore farm loan waiver for the country the Centre extended that has benefitted many UP farmers.

His campaign has been carefully crafted around caste and development - the only two factors he feels can make the Congress a serious contender. It's a straight lift from the Nitish Kumar Bihar campaign model given the political similarities between the two states.

No coincidence then that his star campaigners - Telecommunication pioneer Sam Pitroda, Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma and National Commission for Scheduled Caste Chairman P L Punia - highlighted this blend: Development, caste representation and aspiration.

"In UP, caste matters. So I pitched Pitroda as a backward leader only because I wanted to give people hope. Tell them if he can do it, so can they," said Mr Gandhi.

Yet, tremors of corruption at the Centre shake the ground beneath his feet which he has tried very hard to fight it with loud references to the NRHM scam in UP and Mayawati's multi-crore penchant for Dalit memorials.

UP 2012 is probably the highest-stake battle for Rahul Gandhi till date. And it shows in the whirlwind campaign: 211 public rallies in 48 days.

This is the first time a Congress leader has single-handedly led a campaign in the state ever since it was voted out of power in 1989 after 40 years of rule.

In doing so, he tried to break the perception that Congress is a cadre less party in UP.

Rahul Gandhi believes he is no longer testing the murky political waters of UP but is now riding the political wave that he hopes will help him and his party tide over the perception that the Congress is merely an undercurrent in UP.

A poor result in UP 2012 would be seen as a mini-referendum against UPA-II, searing of its chances in Lok Sabha 2014.

Also coming as it does after the Bihar polls debacle that Rahul himself led his position in the party will be shaken deeply as will his prime ministerial chances.

It is possible that the Congress clamour for sister Priyanka as the new leader could grow now that she says she is not averse to a political career. Hence, it will as much be a verdict for UP as for Rahul Gandhi.

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