New Delhi, Jul 8 (IANS): Since Rahul Gandhi's most notable political success was the Congress' unexpectedly good showing in Uttar Pradesh's 2009 parliamentary polls, when it won 22 of the 80 seats, it is not surprising that he is now focussing more on this state than on any other.

At one time, he presumably wanted to include Bihar among his targets for boosting the Congress' position, but the party's dismal performance in last year's assembly polls there evidently persuaded him to concentrate on Uttar Pradesh alone for the time being.

He probably believes that Uttar Pradesh presents certain advantages which Bihar doesn't. For instance, while Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remains the idol of the Biharis seven months after his success in the assembly elections a second time, Mayawati's charisma has apparently begun to fade.

Though still a formidable figure with a continuing hold on the Dalits, it is fairly certain that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister will not find it easy to repeat her remarkable performance of the 2007 assembly polls when her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) secured an absolute majority.

The Congress' heir apparent is quite confident, therefore, of his party faring reasonably well in next year's assembly elections. Although for the moment he is campaigning on his own, it is not impossible that the Congress will enter into an alliance with its old ally in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party, to give the BSP a run for its money. If Rahul is not mentioning any such tie-up, the reason is his need to first establish himself as a politician with a firm base. And this can only happen if he succeeds in breathing life into the Congress at the grassroots level.

Rahul's intention is to put together again the Congress' old Brahmin-Muslim-Dalit alliance, which was an unbeatable combination for the party for years after independence. Although he may not succeed in weaning away the Dalits, and especially Mayawati's own community of Chamars, from the BSP, the fact that his forays into Dalit homes have unnerved the BSP czarina is evident from her carping criticism of these ventures, which includes the jibe that Rahul washes himself with a "special soap" after such visits. This crude attempt to stoke caste prejudices is evidence enough of Mayawati's nervousness about the appeal which the handsome young prince may have on the Dalits.

Rahul has now taken up the farmer's cause in the wake of the Bhatta-Parasul incident, where the police clashed with farmers who were protesting the acquisition of their land. Although he made a few blunders, such as overestimating the number of the dead and also ignoring the fact that the farmers had first fired on the police, there is little doubt that he has taken up an issue with considerable electoral potential.

As the Communists learnt to their cost in West Bengal, land remains a sensitive issue at a time when industrialists and builders of residential complexes are constantly in search of new locations for their projects. Unfortunately, no formula has yet appeared which will satisfy both the owners and buyers of land, especially the fertile tracts. As a result, the 1894 Land Acquisition Act is still largely followed.

Rahul, however, does not appear to be interested in the social and economic aspects of the subject. His focus is solely on siding with the farmers in their fight against big business. In this respect, his stand is consistent with the one he took in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills, where he claimed that he was a "foot soldier" of the tribals who were opposing the takeover of their land by multinationals.

What this attitude suggests is that he is more a politician eager to win an election rather than a statesman with a wide vision and innovative ideas about the country's path of development. It is too early to say whether this essentially populist stance, which banks on exploiting the momentary grievances of farmers and tribals, will enable him to build a base of his own outside the left-leaning section.

It is possible he feels that, at 41, he is not old enough to project a statesman-like outlook. It is also possible that he prefers sailing close to the National Advisory Council, headed by his mother, Sonia Gandhi, which comprises not a few Leftists. But a person with a "national image", as a Congress spokesman recently said, is expected to be more vocal about subjects which are in the headlines - corruption, Telangana, subsidies, foreign investment in the retail sector, genetically modified food, and so on.

Being a champion of Dalits and farmers is not enough for a "national" leader who is being projected as the country's future prime minister.