Has the Congress scored a self-goal by inducting a radical cleric in the party in Uttar Pradesh?

 

The Congress did not seem to have learnt any lesson from the humiliating results in the Bengal polls. The party along with the Left allied with a radical Muslim cleric, Abbas Siddiqui of the Indian Secular Front. The combination-Samyukt Morcha had managed to win only a seat in the West Bengal polls.

Desperate to woo the Muslim vote bank, the Priyanka Gandhi led Congress in Uttar Pradesh yet again joined hands with a politician and Islamic cleric, Tauqeer Raza Khan, who was earlier booked for issuing threats against the Hindu community and derogatory remarks against the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Raza joined the party on Wednesday. This particular move has not gone down well with a section of senior Congress leaders. A senior Congress functionary said that the move would  "only provide more firepower to the BJP against the Congress."

The Congress had been desperately trying to get a slice of vote of Muslims and backwards, particularly Dalits. Priyanka Gandhi has also been targeting women voters by promising 40 per cent tickets to women candidates. It, however, received a body blow when Priyanka Maurya, the face of "Ladki hoon, Lad Sakti Hun(I am girl and I can fight), who hailed from the backward community is likely to join BJP for being denied a party ticket.

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