Priyanka ploughs a lonely furrow in UP electoral battlefield

With several senior leaders, many of who were members of her core team, deserting the party ahead of the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also the in-charge of the state, finds herself ploughing a lonely furrow in the electoral battlefield in the state.

Priyanka has been striving hard to revive the fortunes of her party in India's biggest and politically most crucial state ever since her appointment as the general secretary of the party and in-charge of the party a little over two years ago.

Whether it was the killing of ten Gond tribals in Soenbhadra district in July 2019, the gangrape and murder of a Dalit teen at Hathras or the alleged mowing down of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri last year, Priyanka managed to reach the spot and meet the families of the victims after battling an unfriendly administration.

The Congress leader had also taken the lead in cornering the UP government over alleged police excesses on the people, who had taken part in the protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

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Priyanka had hit the streets on the issues of women's security and farmers and had taken on the saffron party government on social media forcing the latter to take note of the same and respond. Even Priyanka's detractors have admitted that she had been the most visible opposition face on the streets against the BJP government in UP.

The Congress leader also tried to revamp the party organisation at the grass-root level and brought in new faces even though several old-timers opposed her move and either resigned from the party or distanced themselves from the party activities.

Her efforts to strengthen the party in the state, however, suffered regular jolts as many leaders, some of whom were her close aides, left the party at regular intervals.

Congress MLA from Raebareli, which was party president Sonia Gandhi's Lok Sabha seat, Aditi Singh even ridiculed Priyanka's efforts to revive the party and switched loyalty to the BJP. Others, who left her, included senior leader Jitin Prasada and RPN Singh, who joined the BJP and Imran Masood, who joined the Samajwadi Party (SP). Even Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, a member of Kamlapati Tripathi family, left the grand old party and joined the Trinamool Congress.

Priyanka was also targeted by the BJP leaders, many of whom made objectionable remarks on her. UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya termed her "Twitter Politician" while some others called her a "political tourist".

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UP Congress leaders say that Priyanka's working style is much different from her predecessors.

"She makes it a point to meet every worker... she listens to the issues and encourages participation of the ordinary workers in the decision-making process," says UP Congress president Ajai Kumar Lallu. He said that Priyanka had galvanised the Congress workers in the state and had given them new hope.

"It doesn't matter if some leaders leave us... what matters more is that the ordinary workers are with us... they are with Priyankaji," Lallu added.

Incidentally, it was the first time since 2002, that Congress was fighting the UP polls on its own. In 2002 polls, it had fielded 402 candidates.

While the Congress leaders expressed the hope that the party would do well in the polls, the opposition parties, as well as the political analysts here, remained sceptical.

"Priyanka has worked hard but Congress does not have the organisational strength required to win the polls in a huge state like UP... it even struggles to find good candidates," says veteran political analyst JP Shukla.

It remains to be seen whether Priyanka is able to help her party become at least relevant in the state politics if not attain its past glory.

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