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uttar pradesh

he people of Uttar Pradesh It is not hidden that faction-ridden With just two of the 80 UP Lok Sabha
are crazy to witness how state leadership of Congress party in its 2014 kitty, undoubtedly, the Con-
the last minute entry of Pri- had ruined its grassroots structures as gress party has an uphill task ahead
yanka Gandhi into the po- neglected workers have developed cold to improve its tally. At the same time,
T litical arena could change feet and confined themselves to their it is worth recognizing potential in
the political fortunes of the Congress, homes. This is most challenging job to the great old party, which had thrown
the grand oldest political party of the reunite them and use as their cadre to surprise in 2009 when it conquered 21
world’s biggest democracy that is spread their massage. constituencies with just meager vote
going to poll in seven phases from this Now with Priyanka in place, they share of 18.25 percent, the highest on
month for deciding political destiny of would undoubtedly sink their personal that scoreboard. And it was due to the
the nation. differences and rise to the occasion. sudden shift of the minority vote from
The people of this state are keenly However, what seems to be lacking is the Samajwadi Party.
watching new experiment of Congress any kind of guidance or direction from Evidently, SP lost its goodwill
party that had its deep roots and im- the central leadership. with Muslims primarily because of
mense contribution in the freedom Well, Priyanka did make it a point to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s earlier decision
movement. After the demolition of to shake hands in the state election with
Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in December, Kalyan Singh, who had marched out of
1992 the party had gone in oblivion and All that has happened the BJP to form his own political outfit.
its active cadre force disintegrated and It was Kalyan Singh’s branding as the
broken away to other political parties ever since Priyanka architect of the demolition of Ayod-
that ruled the state from time to time. held meetings with hya’s Babri Masjid, that led Muslims to
The presence of Priyanka has elec-
trified the Congress traditional cadre different sets of her abandon Mulayam and switch to the
Congress. Muslim face of BSP Nasee-
that has gone into deep inertia in party leaders and muddin Siddiqui has now joined hands
wake of its successive debacles in past. with Congress party.
However, the party appears to be still workers in Lucknow is The SP-BSP alliance has under-
far from moving on to the fast track the appointment of six mined the strength of Congress party
due to continuous delay in deciding and spared only two seats of Amethi
its contestants to organise a blistering secretaries. They have and Rae Bareli for them. Offended by
electoral campaign. been divided into two such a move Congress has decided to
The Congress party had already lost fight on its own strength. The party
precious time in getting itself into the teams of three each to has set at rest the speculations about
act. Now, with less than two months Priyanka Gandhi’s candidature in
left for the final face-off, Congress was assist both Priyanka upcoming elections. Now all the top
expected to be not wasting any fur- and Jyotiraditya line leaders from the state are contest-
ther time in drawing up a blue-print ing Lok Sabha seats.
at least for reorganization of the party Scindia The first list of Congress party has
at the state level. Priyanka’s marathon made it clear that Priyanka will see all
meetings at the state’s headquarters in war-room strategy and do extensive
Lucknow, where she spent four hectic make it loud and clear that she should campaigning. Her mother Sonia and
days, did send the message down the not expected to do any magic. And that Rahul will contest from Rae Bareli and
line that she meant business while sign- was being construed by insiders as a Amethi. Besides them Salman Khur-
aling everyone to pull up their socks. message that her agenda was to rebuild sheed, Imran Massod, Saleem Iqbal
Yet, what continues to be anxiously the party for the next state assembly Sherwani, Nirmal Khatri, Annu Tandan,
awaited is creation of a team with election in 2022. RPN Singh, Rajaram Pal, Brij lal Khabri
clearly laid out assignments. All that Ever since Rahul Gandhi took the and Jitin Prasad have been given tickets
has happened ever since Priyanka held call to let Priyanka take the final plunge considering its safe seats.
prolonged meetings with different sets into the murky politics on the eve of the The delay in deciding the candidates
of her party leaders and workers in 2019 Lok Sabha challenges, Congress- for Lok Sabha elections create a buzz in
Lucknow is the appointment of six sec- men hopeful to see some wonders. No the corridors of power that some back
retaries. They have been divided into one can overlook her potential to do the channel talks for tactical alignments on
two teams of three each to assist both wonder for the party, but that potential some seats is in the process to take on
Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who cannot be put to any risk. Perhaps this might of BJP.
has to look after campaign in the west- dilemma pushed the party into uncer-
ern Uttar Pradesh. tainty among its workforce. letters@tehelka.com

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