NEW DELHI: The Congress stands exposed while trying to compete with the Samajwadi Party to woo the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh. Different voices from within the party have made the doublespeak on sub-quota and the Batla Encounter issues evident.
In Azamgarh, where most of the accused in Batla House encounter come from, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asked for a retrial of what he calls fake encounter. This also because students of Shibli college in Azamgarh burnt Rahul Gandhi's effigies demanding a retrial. Digvijaya and Rahul were wooing Muslim votebank.
However, Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the encounter was real.
For both the Samajwadi Party and Congress, it's the swing of Muslim votes which could work in their favour.
But a split in Muslim votes means Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati stands to gain. Congress is worried about the erosion about its backward votes as well. So a confusion on the 9 per cent Muslim reservation announced by Congress leader Salman Khurshid helps the party.
As also the fact, the Congress doesn't want to antagonise the Election commission further. An internal report of the Congress shows that Muslims are not flocking to the party yet. One can expect the race to grab attention of Muslims to hot up.
Pallavi Ghosh