BJP is now Congress's enemy No. 1 in UP

With the arrival of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on the national electoral scene, the Congress feels polarisation of votes is a bigger challenge in Uttar Pradesh than the two state parties  — SP and BSP — which have eaten into its main vote bank during the past 20 years.

During a informal interaction with the media on Thursday, the party’s new general secretary in charge of UP, Madusudan Mistry left no doubts that his immediate target is the BJP. He will be visiting Luckow on Friday along with four secretaries to draw strategy  for the elections.

Mistry, also a Gujarati, will take on Modi’s confidante Amit Shah, who has been drafted to overlook the BJP’s strategy in UP. Realising that the road to Delhi passes through the state, which sends the largest number of MPs (80) to the Lok Sabha , the BJP is pinning hopes on polarisation of votes as it did in 1996, 1998 and 1999 elections to win 25-30 seats. Currently, it holds just 10 seats. The Congress had won 22 Lok Sabha seats from UP during 2009 general elections — a feat credited to Rahul Gandhi.

Mistry, whose idea is to retain these 22 seats, fears that the BJP was out to poach them to consolidate Hindu votes in the name of Modi. Therefore, the party plans to prepare a document to list Modi’s failures and his communal agenda.

“These people (Amit Shah) are capable of doing anything. They are the masters of this art. That’s how they grabbed power in Gujarat. I hope it doesn’t happen here. I will tell the people of UP, ‘don’t allow your state to become Gujarat’,” he said. 

Mistry, who is a former MP and seen as a trusted lieutenant of Rahul, says his primary goal is to prevent the revival of the BJP in UP. Party insiders say an internal assessment prepared after Modi took over as chief of BJP’s campaign committee was that polarisation of votes was affecting Congress voters. Therefore, the  assessment is not to worry much about the two principal players  as they would not dominate the parliamentary elections as during the assembly elections.

A senior Congress leader said that in case of these two parties winning seats, they either have to provide or take support from the Congress for formation of the next government . “The BJP continues to be the main enemy as they are vying for power in Delhi to replace the UPA,” he said.