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Spearheading her party's campaign to rebuild its base in the nation's largest state, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is going all out to woo the minorities, who at one time formed the backbone of the Congress in the state.
The main thrust is on the Muslims with Sonia Gandhi's campaign trial being littered with areas having a significant Muslim presence.
"Congress is the only solution to rid the nation of communalism and casteism," she told well-attended and responsive gatherings in Moradabad, Barielly and Shahjahanapur during the course of her whirlwind tour on Wednesday.
Sonia's focus on Muslims is the outcome of their growing and visible disillusionment with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
In the Muslim vote bank, which constitutes nearly 20 per cent of UP's 98.8 million votes, the Congress perceives the possibility of its revival.
A gradual improvement in the attendance of Muslims at Sonia's recent rallies has boosted the morale of Congressmen.
"Muslims have realised that Mulayam Singh Yadav only paid lip service to them - in the fight against communalism and on the issue of their economic upliftment," pointed out senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari.
It was the 'shilaniyas' of the Ram temple in Ayodhya during Rajiv Gandhi's regime and the subsequent demolition of the Babri mosque during Narasimha Rao's prime ministership that led to the total alienation of Muslims from the Congress.
In her carefully worded and emotionally charged speeches she made it a point to repeat that 'if Muslims had voted for our party, there would have been no BJP government either in UP or at the Centre'.
In Shahjahanpur, which has a large Sikh presence, she took care to mentioned them in the same breath as Muslims.
The Sikhs left the Congress following the storming of the Golden temple during Indira Gandhi's tenure as prime minister.
"I am aware that there have been some incidents over the past that have hurt the sentiments of the two communities," Gandhi admitted.
However, in the same vein, she added, "But please do not forget that the Congress is the only party that can genuinely fight disruptive forces."
She dubbed both the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) as two sides of the same coin.
She flayed the BJP for giving false assurances about resolving the Ram temple issue. "BJP is only trying to poison the minds of people on the issue, which I am sure cannot be resolved the way they want it," she warned.
The BJP's bid to play the religion card for political gains reflected the ruling party's desperation, she said.
Referring to the Samajwadi Party, the Congress chief reminded the crowds about how SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had blocked the formation of a Congress-led government after the last general election.
"On our part, we had supported them in the hope that they will fight communal forces, but they failed to fulfill their commitments," she said, hastening to add, "and that was the reason we decided to go it alone in this election."
"We believe in maintaining an equal distance from both communal and casteist forces," she said.
"Mulayam Singh Yadav managed to wean away Muslims from the Congress by proclaiming that he alone could save them from the onslaught of communal forces," former UP Congress chief Salman Khurshid said.
"But now, the Muslims can see how hollow his claims were," he added.
The Uttar Pradesh poll will be held in three phases.
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