Rahul Gandhi's Congress in UP likened to Indian batsmen

New Delhi, Jan., 9 : A senior BJP leader was quite happy with the blunders that the Congress party is making in Uttar Pradesh in the run up to the assembly elections. He compared Rahul Gandhi-led party in the state to Indian cricketers batting at Perth. Even as Indian batsmen fell like nine pins at Perth, so will Congress candidates in UP was the conclusion that he wished to draw.

Asked if Congress giving tickets to Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates would pay dividend, the BJP leader pooh-poohed the tactic and said that it would be like the BJP fielding Muslim candidates. He said BJP's Muslim candidates would lose out to Muslim contestants from other parties because they would not be seen as credible representatives. He was of the view that Congress' OBC candidates would lose out to their counterparts from other parties, including that of BJP, in a similar manner.

He believes that Ajit Singh's Jat vote will not help Congress. Singh will win the seats he would, but in other places the Jat would not get transferred to Congress. The BJP, on the other hand, would have benefited because Singh's Jat vote would have been transferred because Jats have a preference for BJP.

According to him, the two major players in the state are BSP and SP, followed by the BJP, which had been in power in the state before SP and BSP were in office. He said that Congress was not on the power radar of UP.

Apparently, VP Singh had explained the UP caste calculus saying that any party which enjoys the support of two caste blocks would be the winner in the electoral battle. He argued that Mayawati commanded the support of Dalits and non-Yadav OBCs, along with a bit of Muslims and Brahmins, which enabled her to win a comfortable victory in 2007. This time round, he said, she is losing her vote from all other caste groups except that of the Dalits. And the SP is losing the other caste groups except that of the Yadavs. He was of the view that Muslim vote will remain largely with the SP.

He was of the view that the BJP this time has the caste base of Brahmins and other upper castes and that of non-Yadav OBCs. This includes most backward groups like Kushwahas, Mauryas, Kerats, Mallas. This explains as to why the BJP is willing to face media flak over Babu Singh Kushwaha because of the expected electoral dividend.

The BJP leader expects a steep fall in Mayawati's vote and that would tilt the outcome in favour of SP, and possibly BJP though he was not willing to wager that BJP has a winning chance in UP.