The Congress has appointed a well-known Dalit leader, Brijlal Khabri, as its Uttar Pradesh chief along with six zonal heads to salvage some political ground after being wiped out in the Assembly election a few months ago.

The choice of a Dalit leader at a time veteran Mallikarjun Kharge from the same community is going to head the party at the national level is a clear indication that the Congress is trying to change its image of being an upper caste party.

In Uttar Pradesh, the party has set its sights on Dalit votes, anticipating a major shift after the decay of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Though a similar experiment crashed in Punjab, where Charanjit Singh Channi was made chief minister before the elections, there were reasons for the failure. While the party gave bad governance under Amarinder Singh, creating huge anti-incumbency, Channi’s appointment barely three months before the election looked like a turnkey project to fool the Dalits. The Punjab result was more a referendum on the political bungling of the Congress than a reflection on the vitality of Dalit card.

The Congress has now shown consistency in its plan to empower the weakest sections of the society by opting for Kharge as the national president and Khabri as the head of the largest state in the country. Though both Khabri and his wife Urmila Sonkar lost the Assembly election, that was not considered as a criterion for judgement because the party was rejected lock, stock and barrel in the intensely polarised contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party.

While the Congress vote share in Uttar Pradesh had hovered around 8 per cent over the past few decades, the last Assembly election

was its worst ever with barely 2.33 per cent votes and two seats despite a sustained struggle by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The extent of polarisation was reflected in the BSP’s showing — the party got just one seat although its vote share was much higher at 12.88 per cent.

The Congress expects the BSP to do far worse in the parliamentary elections because Mayawati is seen to be working under the pressure of the Narendra Modi government. The party believes much of the BSP votes reluctantly shifted to the BJP in the last Assembly election because the Congress was perceived to be very

weak. The central leadership expects Dalits to look towards the Congress because of their rising dissatisfaction with the BJP.

Khabri, who joined the Congress in 2016, had worked closely with Kanshi Ram and Mayawati and is known for his organisational skills. He will be assisted by six zonal heads — Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Ajay Rai, Virendra Choudhary, Nakul Dubey, Anil Yadav and Yogesh Dikshit.

Siddiqui and Dubey had also defected to the Congress from the BSP.

The zonal heads will have the responsibility of building the organisation in their areas. Caste considerations have played a big factor in the selection of these zonal heads. While Khabri will work on Dalits as state head, Farenda MLA Virendra Chaudhary will look after Purvanchal districts such as Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar, Basti, Maharajganj, Sidharthnagar and Kushinagar.

Ajai Rai, a Bhumihar, will look after Prayag and Nakul Dubey will be in charge of Awadh. Yogesh Dikshit will be assigned Bundelkhand and Siddiqui will look after western Uttar Pradesh. Anil Yadav will get Braj, dominated by the Yadavs.

These leaders have been asked to start preparations for the parliamentary election of 2024 without any delay.