The battlelines are being etched out in Uttar Pradesh for the 2012 Assembly polls. The main combatants: the ruling BSP and the Congress, the party that posted a spectacular revival at the hustings in UP in the Lok Sabha elections 2009.
Both parties used the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar last week to showcase their strength in UP. While the Congress officially launched its Mission UP through 10 Congress yatras flagged off by Rahul Gandhi, the BSP?s dharnas against the Women?s Reservation Bill on the same day were an attempt to counter the Congress? move to appropriate Ambedkar.
The apparently meticulously planned yatras have caused ripples in the BSP camp. After the Congress announced its yatras, the BSP organised three big public programmes in the last one month, each making the Congress the main target.
But despite the political song and dance, the Congress realises that the 2012 Assembly polls may not imitate the Lok Sabha polls of 2009. In order to make the April 14 programme a success, the Congress had to bring out all its force. All five Union ministers from the state participated and almost all the Congress MPs from UP were tasked with bringing people from their respective regions to Ambedkarnagar.
The party has planned its yatras in such a manner that they will continue till 2012, in the process covering each assembly constituency twice, once in 2010 and another time in 2011.
In the first round, the Congress plans to focus on making people aware about its past ?achievements? and especially about UPA schemes for which the state government may have been taking the credit. The first phase of the first round of yatras would be from April 14 to May 31. The second phase will begin from Gandhi Jayanti, October 2. After covering 403 Assembly constituencies and around 820 blocks in the state, all the yatras will wind up in Allahabad on November 10, where Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address a big rally.
In the second round of yatras, starting from 2010, the Congress will again visit each Assembly constituency and collect chargesheets against the state government. The Congress plans to compile these chargesheets and make them public by end 2011 or early 2012.
The last time the Congress tried to connect to the masses was on Gandhi Jayanti in 2009, when party leaders were asked to spend a night in a Dalit or backward village and eat food with the villagers. The leaders were asked to follow the exercise at least once a month after that. While Congressmen had shown great enthusiasm on the day, they failed to maintain it.