Social engineering: Congress to opt for OBC/Dalit UP chief
According to insiders, the names being discussed include Tanuj Punia, a Lok Sabha member from Barabanki, and Virendra Chaudhary, a sitting MLA from Maharajganj.
Tanuj Punia is the son of PL Punia, the bureaucrat-turned-Dalit face of the party in the state, while Chaudhary belongs to the OBC community. By appointing a Dalit leader at the helm, the party believes it can consolidate the Dalit vote bank, which constitutes nearly 21.1 percent of the electorate.
A leader told this paper that the party is buoyed by its impressive performance in the 2024 elections and thinks now is an opportune time to woo Dalit and OBC votes. 'This will help the party reach out to the deprived sections of society, with Rahul Gandhi's twin planks of 'save the Constitution' and the demand for a nationwide caste survey,' said a leader.
A section believes that since the Dalit vote bank is drifting away from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the party can capitalise on her eroding vote base and declining influence in Dalit politics.
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