Opinion

Congress Banking On Rahul-Priyanka Combo Campaign To Score High In Crucial State Elections

Both the leaders have spent considerable time in poll-bound Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and UT Puducherry barring West Bengal.

The Congress is banking on the Rahul Gandhi-Priyanka Gandhi Vadra combo campaign to score high in the current round of assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory.

Both the leaders have spent considerable time in poll-bound Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and UT Puducherry barring West Bengal, where they have not ventured so far.

Though speculation is that the Gandhi siblings gave a miss to West Bengal to avoid campaigning against chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is trying hard to stop the BJP, party insiders have not entirely ruled the possibility of the two visiting the eastern state towards the later phases and in areas where the grand old party has better chances to win.

During the current round of assembly polls both Rahul and Priyanka have attacked the BJP central leadership and government’s policies given the saffron party’s campaign was largely driven by PM Modi, union home minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda in the states.

The assembly polls have come at a time when the Congress is trying hard to be counted nationally and is also grappling with the leadership issue.

The performance of the Congress in the state polls would boost the morale of the workers who are spread out across the country but have not been sufficiently motivated over the past years.

A good show in the states would help the party ensure a smooth transition of power and allow the leadership to work on coordinating with other parties while also restructuring its own organization needed to counter a mighty resourceful BJP.

The party interim president Sonia Gandhi is not campaigning because of health issues, though she issued a written appeal to voters of Kerala, leaving the responsibility largely on Rahul, whose efforts are getting fortified by Priyanka.

For the party managers the Rahul-Priyanka combo campaign is working fine but it remains to be seen what are the electoral benefits of the new strategy.

Though the issues they have raised are more or less similar, the difference is in how each sibling approaches the voter.

In case of Rahul, the managers opted for more public interactions where the leader interacts with a select audience by walking across a ramp carrying a mike in his hand.

This is more of western style campaigning that Rahul has become comfortable with over the past years.

 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing students at the Bharathidasan College for Women in Puducherry on Wednesday (Picture Courtesy: YouTube @Indian National Congress)

 

For Priyanka, addressing traditional public rallies from the dais along with targeted interactions with small groups was the mode of communication.

While Rahul was dressed in semi-formal comfort pants and half-sleeve shirts, Priyanka opted for a mix of crisp saree and kurtas.

It is not that Priyanka did not campaign across states earlier.

She was actively seen seeking votes for party nominees during the 2019 national elections even though she was in charge for half of Uttar Pradesh along with senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, now with the BJP.

One of the favourite styles of both Rahul and Priyanka has been to highlight the cultural icons of the regional voters be it the Assamese identity being threatened by the Citizenship Amendment Act or the Tamil pride being trampled upon by the saffron party.

In each campaign, there was also an appeal to preserve the unity in diversity spirit of the country and the need to keep the citizens united.

In Assam both Rahul, Priyanka reiterated the party’s commitment to stop the CAA and provide jobs to the young. Elsewhere, Rahul has been branding the central government as pro-rich and has charged it of pursuing bad economic policies which have made people suffer.

 

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressing a rally in Tezpur, Assam. (Credit: PTI)

 

Rahul’s interactions were kept small and targeted in Kerala and Tamil Nadu to allow more memories, more publicity material available for social media while the speeches in rallies could have been lost in translation.

Similarly, the roadshows are seen as more advantageous over the rallies, as this format allows the leader to go closer to the public.

For the BJP, the promise has been to give a double engine government to the states, to make the saffron party’s promise of development appear more realistic.

Several schemes and projects launched by the PM on the eve of Assam polls were meant to be an indicator of things if the voters returned the government. Similar sentiments were expressed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the BJP has little pan- state presence.

Rahul’s campaign was full of symbolism reflected in his auto rickshaw ride at two places in Kerala ahead of the April 6 polling which aimed at highlighting the rising fuel prices under the BJP-led central government.

 

Rahul Gandhi took an autorickshaw ride at two places in Kerala, on the last day of the campaign for the April 6 Assembly polls.

Theleader also had a small chat with the auto-driver who spoke about the economic hardships being faced by a large number of people.

For most part of the campaign Rahul’s style was aggressive as he slammed the Centre and the regional rivals while Priyanka was moderate in taking a dig at the BJP leadership.

For instance, while addressing a rally in Assam, she wondered why the saffron party was promising to resolve issues like jobs for youth and better remuneration for tea garden workers if voted to power again when they had full five years to improve the lives of voters since 2016.

A similar interaction with the Kerala fisherfolk earlier had meant to flag the concerns of the community while presenting the leader as a physically fit person, while meetings with students, traders and educators aimed at appealing the middle class.

Rahul attacked the ruling Left Democratic Front for trying to strike a deal with a US-based company for deep sea fishing, a move that could affect the livelihoods of the fisherfolks, to support his reach out.

Between the two siblings, Priyanka appears to have a natural flair for connecting with the people showed by her greeting people in Malayalam on Easter in Kerala and hailing the north-eastern state in Assamese while addressing a rally or even joining a flash-dance show by some youngsters to encourage them.

Though there have some whispers of sibling rivalry, party insiders argue that Rahul and Priyanka work in close coordination to ensure the messaging of the grand old party is right despite the difference in styles of delivery of the two leaders.

A case in point is the video interaction Priyanka in Delhi had with children while Rahul was sharing an Easter meal with them in Kerala.

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