Rahul will take care of UP: Jaiswal
Battle for states: Leaders of all parties toil hard to woo voters
Exuding confidence to form the next government, however, lacking a towering political figure to match upto either Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress party assured electorate that Rahul Gandhi will have the "remote control" in his hand to ensure development of the state.
In an attempt to convey this message to the people of poll-bound state, Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, said: “We are getting 200 plus seats in the 403-member House and will form the government on our own” adding that “whoever becomes the chief minister, the remote will be in Rahulji’s hands.”
Jaiswal, who is Lok Sabha MP from UP further said that if Congress comes to power in the state then this model of governance will be adopted to fulfill the promises that Gandhi scion has made to people.
“Rahul will show his skills in the next five years and will be monitoring whether those promises are being fulfilled or not," Jaiswal said.
Unlike Punjab, where Congress had declared Captain Amrinder Singh as its chief ministerial candidate, the party has not done so in UP, where it does not have a dominating political figure except Rahul Gandhi.
However, Congress does not want to project him as its chief ministerial candidate as the young leader is already being seen as future Prime Minister by the party.
Therefore, to convince people about the seriousness of Rahul Gandhi’s promise to develop the state in the next five years, this arrangement is being talked about.
“Congress has already projected Rahul as its future prime ministerial candidate; therefore, the party does not want to project him as chief ministerial candidate in the state. Also, there’s no conformity how far will it improve in UP where Rahul has put high stakes,” Arshad Alam, faculty member as Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University told Deccan Herald.
Further, Alam said, “By projecting Rahul Gandhi as power centre, the Congress party wants to convince people that infighting among senior leaders that we saw between Beni Prasad Verma and PL Punia will not have any effect on the functioning of the government, if it forms one.”
Earlier on Wednesday, factionalism in Congress came to the fore, when Union Steel
Minister Beni Prasad Verma termed party MP from Barabanki P L Punia as an “outsider”.
Meanwhile, Jaiswal said that vigorous campaigning by the young leader in the state ensured high turn out of youth to vote.
He claimed that Congress has got almost 15 per cent of the state’s youth votes.
The turnout of voters in the first phase of the Assembly elections in 55 seats of 10 districts in UP, was between 62 to 64 per cent on Wednesday.
