Congress' caste reset in Uttar Pradesh: Can Brahmin-Muslim leadership deliver in 2027 assembly polls? | Mint

Gulam Jeelani

Published5 Oct 2026, 10:13 AM IST

The Congress last week effected a leadership change in the party's unit in Uttar Pradesh where assembly elections are shedulded next year.

The party replaced Ajay Rai, a Bhumihar, with Aradhana Misra-Mona, a Brahmin as UP Congress Committee chief. The party also brought in its firebrand Saharanpur Member of Parliament (MP) Imran Masood as working president, apparently to broaden its reach in western Uttar Pradesh, where BJP has teamed up with the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

The party also appointed Devendra Nishad, from the extremely backward fishing community, and Dalit leader Alok Prasad as senior vice-presidents of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.

Political analysts have dubbed the latest Congress move as a strategy to rebuild its organisation based on a social coalition of Brahmins, Muslims, Dalits and extremely backward classes.

Aradhana Misra, also known as Mona Misra, is a Congress MLA representing Rampur Khas in the Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. She is the daughter of senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Pramod Tiwari.

Misra's appointment is significant as it marks return of a Brahmin woman face as UP Congress chief after nearly 15 years. The last woman to head the Congress in UP was Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who served as PCC president from 2007 to 2012. Joshi is now with the BJP.

Misra comes from a prominent political family but rose through the ranks. An MBA by qualification, Misra entered electoral politics through the block-level and served as a Block Pramukh before moving to the state Assembly in 2014.

She was first elected MLA from Rampur Khas in 2014, retained the seat in 2017, and won it for a third consecutive time in 2022. Misr'as father Pramod Tiwari is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP

Addressing party workers on Saturday, Aradhna Mishra said her appointment marked the beginning of a "new dawn" and acknowledged the responsibility as a major challenge with limited time ahead of the elections.

"Today marks the beginning of a new dawn. I express my gratitude to my leadership for entrusting me with this responsibility. This is a big challenge; time is short, and every Congress worker will have to work. Together, we must work with full strength," she said.

Referring to the Congress' focus on women's empowerment, Mishra said she herself represented the party's "Beti Hun, Lad Sakti Hun" campaign.

She also recalled the party's decision under Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's leadership to field 40 per cent women candidates in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

"Before this, under Priyanka Gandhi's leadership, we fielded 40% women candidates with tickets in the 2022 elections. It is evident today that the Congress Party has always worked for the empowerment of women," she said.

Priyanka Vadraused the slogan "Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon" (I am a girl and I can fight) during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Misra travelled extensively across Uttar Pradesh alongside Gandhi during her visits to the state and was actively involved in the party’s ‘Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon’ campaign ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections.

Congress won two seats in the 403-member UP assembly. One of the seats was Aradhana Misra and other was Virendra Chaudhary from Pharenda in Maharajganj district.

From being a dominant force, the Congress has been reduced to a politically insignificant party in UP asssembly. The party has seen a fall from 388 seats in 1952 to 309 in 1980 7 in 2017 and 2 seats in 2022 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

With Imran Masood as working president, the Congress has added a prominent west Uttar Pradesh face to the party’s leadership. Masood rose to national focus during the 2014 Lok Sabha election following his controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which drew criticism and legal action.

Masood has been active in electoral politics and returned to Congress after a brief stint with SP and won the Lok Sabha election from Saharanpur in 2024.

By bringing in Imran Masood, the party has not just sought to outreach Muslim voters in UP but also sent a subtle signal to its INDIA bloc ally Samajwadi Party of a hard bargain in the seat-sharing talks in the near future. The Congress and SP are still working on a seat-sharing arrangement for a possible alliance in the upcoming elections.

Masood has of late been a vocal critic of Samajwadi Party. Masood has repeatedly called for an early decision on seat-sharing and described the Congress as the "big brother" in the alliance. SP leaders, however, have maintained that Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav would decide the alliance's contours.

By bringing in two vice-presidents, one (Devinder Nishad) from OBC riverine community and the other (Alok Prasad) from the Dalit Pasi community, the Congress is also seemingly trying to reach out to the two communities, which warmed up to the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls amidst Rahul Gandhi’s big push over caste census.

Congress contested 17 seats out of the 80 total parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh as part of the INDIA bloc alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). It won six seats. he alliance won 43 seats overall in the state, with the Samajwadi Party securing 37 seats.

Before last week's appointment, the Congress had picked Rajendra Pal Gautam, a Dalit, as the AICC in-charge of the state

Brahmin voters account for roughly 10 per cent to 12 per cent of Uttar Pradesh's electorate and hold decisive influence in around 100 to 125 assembly seats, making them a crucial target for major political parties ahead of the 2027 state assembly elections.

Muslim voters make up approximately 19 per cent of Uttar Pradesh's total population and electorate, serving as a major deciding factor in around 143 of the state's 403 assembly constituencies, particularly in Western and Eastern UP.

The party's efforts to expand its political base were evident on Saturday when Apna Janata Party president and former minister Swami Prasad Maurya held talks with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on joining the INDIA bloc, while eight-time former MLA from Mathura's Mant constituency Shyam Sunder Sharma returned to the Congress.

Maurya said in a post on X that he had a "positive discussion" with Gandhi on contesting the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections together under the INDIA bloc.

The Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit also announced Sharma's return to the party, describing him as a prominent political figure of Mathura and an eight-time former MLA.

Sharma joined the Congress in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera, party general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in-charge Syed Naseer Hussain and former Union minister Rajeev Shukla at the party's Delhi office.

Maurya, who has served as a minister in governments led by both the BJP and BSP, had allied with the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 Assembly elections. He later resigned from the Legislative Council amid differences with the party (SP) and formed his own Apna Janata Party.

Today marks the beginning of a new dawn. I express my gratitude to my leadership for entrusting me with this responsibility. This is a big challenge; time is short, and every Congress worker will have to work.

Sharma has considerable organisational experience. A former Congress leader, he first won the Mant Assembly seat on a Congress ticket in 1989 and was re-elected in 1991 and 1993. He later remained associated with the Loktantrik Congress, Trinamool Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party.

The Congress said Sharma's return would strengthen the party not only in Mathura but across western Uttar Pradesh.

(With agency inputs)

Gulam Jeelani

Gulam Jeelani is Political Desk Editor at LiveMint with over 16 years of experience covering national and international politics. Based in New Delhi, Jeelani delivers impactful political narratives through breaking stories, in-depth interviews, and analytical pieces at LiveMint since February 2024. The expertise in video production fuels his current responsibilities, which include curating content and conducting video interviews for an expanding digital audience.<br><br> Jeelani also travels during elections and key political events and has covered assembly elections in key states apart from national elections. He has previously worked with The Pioneer, Network18, India Today, News9Plus and Hindustan Times.<br><br> Jeelani’s tenure at LiveMint and previous experience at print and digital newsrooms have honed his skills in creating compelling text and video stories, explainers, and analysis that resonate with a diverse viewership.<br><br> Before moving to New Delhi in 2015, Jeelani was based in Uttar Pradesh, where he worked for five years as a reporter. In 2018, Jeelani was one of the two Indian journalists selected for the Alfred Friendly Fellowship in the US. There, he attended training workshops on reporting and data journalism, and he was attached to the Minneapolis Star Tribune in Minnesota, where he worked as a reporter.<br><br> Jeelani is a Bachelor's in Chemistry and holds a Masters Degree in journalism and mass communication from Aligarh Muslim University. Outside work, he enjoys poetry, cricket and movies.

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