Hectic schedule awaits Priyanka

With barely few months to go for the next Lok Sabha polls and very little time left for restructuring the almost non-existent organisation of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, the party has decided to take its star campaigner and newly appointed AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi to the people.

The grand old party, which is desperate to regain lost grounds in the politically crucial UP, is busy preparing to line up a series of engagements for Priyanka, who is currently in the USA and is expected to arrive in the country in a few days time.

Priyanka, who has been made in-charge of the eastern UP region, is likely to launch her new political innings from the state capital on February 4.

According to the state Congress sources in Lucknow, Priyanka and her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi may address the media in Lucknow on that day.

The brother-sister duo were also likely to visit the ongoing Kumbh festival at Prayagraj and take the holy dip in the 'Sangam' (the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers) waters a few days later.

''As the time is short and the polls are very near, there is no point trying to re-structure the organisation... It's better if Priyankaji meets party workers directly... It will boost the morale of the workers at the grass root level,'' a senior state Congress leader said in Lucknow.

He said that the party is currently busy preparing a detailed plan of various events and programs for Priyanka in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

''We want Priyanka to meet booth level workers of the party in different districts in the eastern region in the next few days,'' the Congress leader said.

The party was also lining up smaller and big rallies to be addressed by Priyanka, either alone or with Rahul Gandhi, in the Lok Sabha constituencies, where the party was in a better position, he added.

Sources in the Congress in Lucknow said that Priyanka would be choosing her own team of select leaders from the region.

''We expect that some young faces in the party may get preference in her team,'' the leader remarked.

A hectic schedule, it seems, awaits Priyanka in the state.