UPCC President Rita Bahuguna Joshi is brimming with confidence that the Congress will perform extremely well. Contesting separately will help the Congress rebuild itself and eventually the party will stand on its feet in Uttar Pradesh. Daughter of the legendary Congress leader H.N. Bahuguna, Rita said Muslims are all set to come back to the Congress fold, which will eventually help revive the party in the major Hindi-heartland state that returns 80 MPs in 543-member Indian Parliament.
Is the break between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh final and irrevocable?
Apparently there is confusion between alliance and seat-sharing arrangement. In all fairness to the SP, it extended support to the Congress-led UPA government at a very crucial juncture. We have not been able to clinch a seat-sharing arrangement in UP. But that does not mean we cannot come together post-poll.
How strong is the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh?
The Congress vote share ranges from 50,000 to 1,00,000 upward in at least 45-50 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP. If the party works more seriously, it can really improve its position in UP. We are not contesting all the Lok Sabha seats. We shall be putting up candidates only where we feel confident of being in the race. So far, the problem has been that the party has been tying up with one party or the other. A wrong signal has gone out among the people that the party is a not a serious player in UP. It resulted in the flight of Congress votes to other parties. During the Ayodhya agitation, the Brahmin and other upper-caste votes had shifted to the BJP, the Muslim votes to the SP and the Dalit vote moved away to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Now, we are confident of winning back our popular base in UP.
Do you see the scene changing in UP?
Muslims are surely coming back to the Congress. In fact, Muslims, who left the Congress after the demolition of the Babri Masjid on Dec. 6, 1992, tried out almost all the political formations like the BSP and SP and are disenchanted. No one has ever seriously bothered to address their basic concerns and only used them as vote banks. The SP move to tie up with Kalyan Singh, who played such a prominent role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid, has proved to be the clincher. No matter what explanation Mulayam Singh would like to give, the Muslims cannot just digest this. Besides, the Congress has a track record and made contributions for the welfare of Muslims. I think the Muslims realize this and will be coming back in substantial numbers to the Congress.
How would the parting of ways with SP impact the prospects of the Congress in UP?
You will see that we shall definitely do better and the results will really throw up surprises. Selection of candidates has been good. Several former Congressmen, like former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Salim Sherwani and former Union Minister of State for Home Ram Lal Rahi, who is a Dalit, have returned to the Congress fold. With SP joining hands with Kalyan Singh, the Muslims see us as a credible alternative. Besides, in UP, once the Muslims return, the upper castes will also come back to the party fold. It is only a beginning of a process. It will take a couple of years before we can put the Congress back on its feet in UP.
Has the schedule been drawn up for Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in UP?
The campaign schedule is being worked out phase-wise. For instance, in the first phase, the focus is on eastern UP, which goes to polls in the first phase. Similarly, the focus would be on western UP in the last phase, when the region goes to polls. We are also trying for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a few areas.
