Priyanka Plans UP Yatra To Boost Congress Prospects In Poll-bound State

Priyanka inherited a depleted and a demoralized state unit when she was given charge of the entire UP after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress’ proposed “pratigya yatra” across Uttar Pradesh in October has invoked a sense of déjà vu among the party watchers.

The proposed 12,000 km yatra aims to stress on two facts, that the Congress plans to contest the 2022 assembly elections on its own and that the party will keep its promises, if given a chance, going by the tag line “Hum Vachan Nibhayenge.”

The plan is to connect with the rural voters and energize the workers who are excited with the attention they are getting from Priyanka this time.

A similar march was staged by the party in 2016, to prepare ground for the 2017 assembly elections. Then too the party pushed the go alone line and alleged that non-Congress governments in the past three decades had failed to take the state forward.

Then party vice president Rahul Gandhi led the yatra which traversed the state from Ballia in the east to Ghaziabad, bordering Delhi, in the west.

The march had generated a lot of buzz around the grand old party but instead of capitalizing on the sentiment, the party decided to fight the elections jointly with the ruling Samajwadi Party.

Soon after, banners carrying pictures of both Rahul Gandhi and then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav were put up all over the state to convey the beginning of a new era.

However, the alliance was a disaster for both, the SP was reduced to 47 seats and the Congress just 7 seats in a House of 403.

Five years later, Rahul’s younger sister Priyanka is planning a similar mega yatra, which will pass through important villages, in a bid to revive the party in the state.

Priyanka is busy working out the details of the yatra which may be started on September 29 from Meerut in Western UP, which has been on her radar for long. The area also has been the seat of farmer protests against the three central laws.

Besides Meerut, rallies are being planned in Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Mahoba areas.

Earlier, the yatra was to start from Lucknow on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as Priyanka had staged a silent protest at the feet of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the capital city on July 16 highlight violence during the local body polls.

The aim of the second yatra too remains the same, however, it would be worthwhile to take stock of the party’s journey since the last assembly polls.

After getting only 7/403 assembly seats in 2017, the party could win just 1/80 parliamentary seats (Rae Bareli) in the 2019 national elections, which was one seat less than the two it had won in 2014.

No doubt Priyanka inherited a depleted and a demoralized state unit when she was given charge of the entire UP after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Before that she managed half of the state but for a short duration.

A quick revamp of the party that followed saw Ajay Kumar Lallu becoming the state unit chief and Aradhana Mishra the Congress Legislative Party leader. A series of targeted agitations against the state government followed as the Congress tried hard to make itself noticed.

The effort continued during the pandemic period though movement of workers did get affected because of safety protocols.

As the 2022 polls draw near, the strategy seems to marshal all resources to maximize the outcome from the present 7 seats and 6 percent vote share. As it is, the party has nothing much to lose even if the results do not match the expectations.

A yatra or an extended version of a roadshow gets better mileage than rallies, where arranging big crowds remains a challenge.

Preparations

The current focus of the party is on booth management but separate camps to train workers in how to make better use of social media, explain party’s ideology and convince the voters on who actually spoiled UP are being held.

This, in a way, is the repeat of the 2016 theme which flagged that up had suffered a lot in the past 27 years under various non-congress governments.

The aim is to train two lakh workers through 700 camps in four phases. During phase-1, as many as 25,000 workers were trained while phase-2 saw 30,000 office bearers getting tips from master trainers.

The party has also sought applications for ticket by September 25 and has finalized nominees on around 90 seats giving preference to former MLAs and senior leaders.

The biggest challenge for the Congress is to take its ideology among the voters as it has been describing its fight with the BJP an ideological one.

Priyanka’s has been trying to lead from the front but there have been demands that she should spend more time in the state, which requires more than frequent visits.

Contesting polls

There has been some speculation that she may fight the coming elections and could contest from a seat in the Rae Bareli or Amethi areas, considered to be family strongholds for decades.

Before she was given the charge of half of UP in the run up to the 2019 national elections, Priyanka had been managing the two parliamentary constituencies.

There were also demand from the workers that she be made the chief ministerial candidate but that too is unlikely though party veteran Salman Khurshid has said several times that the 2022 polls will be fought under her leadership.

The speculation gained ground after she visited Dodarpur village in Tiloi, Amethi where three children had died after a wall fell on them.

In all probability, Priyanka will only seek votes for party candidates and is unlikely to become one herself.

The Congress is trying hard to punch above its weight in the state and has been working on strengthening the organization, a limiting factor for long.

On the positive side, former SP member from Lakhimpur Kheri Ritu Singh, whom Priyanka had visited after she faced violence in the local body polls, joined the Congress recently.

On the flip side, former MLA Laliteshpati Tripathi chose to leave the party on the lines of ex-Unnao MP Annu Tandon and former Union minister Jitin Prasada, who moved to SP and BJP respectively earlier.