Priyanka, Scindia meet Cong cadres
LUCKNOW: Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday held closed-door meetings with the party functionaries in Lucknow a day after holding a roadshow here.
The two, who have been given charge of the western and eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the national elections due this summer, asked the functionaries about the party organisation and the political situation in their respective Lok Sabha seats, according to a local party leader.
“What is your booth number? How many villages do you have in your constituency… have you been a Congress candidate in the past. Who won the seat? How many votes did other candidates get and how many votes did you get?” a leader from Lucknow, who did not wish to be named, quoted Priyanka Gandhi as asking these questions.
Scindia, too, inquired about the party’s position, political equations and the prospects of the aspiring candidates, according to Saharanpur District Congress Committee president Shashi Walia.
About 50 workers gathered outside the Congress headquarters in Lucknow and demanded that they be allowed to meet the two leaders who were meeting a select group of functionaries. They got into arguments, shouted slogans and tried to force the way into the headquarters.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar was forced to rush to pacify the workers, who wanted to meet the leaders. “I will get more chairs for you. Please wait there,” Babbar told them.
Mahadin Rawat, a block president from Lucknow, was overwhelmed after meeting Priyanka Gandhi and was in tears. “I have not been able to meet any UPCC [Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee] presidents up to now. This is for the first time that a national level leader has called us for a meeting,” said Mahadin.
Priyanka Gandhi asked the workers to forget their differences and work together for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a number of them complained against the office bearers, according to a senior leader. “This is not the time to raise such issues. Consider me your younger or elder sister. I will give you a candidate. Will you ensure the victory of the candidate?” a leader quoted Priyanka Gandhi as saying.
Scindia sought to know about issues in Lok Sabha constituencies and appointed a party leader as in charge of a seat he reviewed. “…Scindiaji asked about the issues in our Lok Sabha constituency. We have informed him about the local issues...He has appointed... Rajendra Singh as the in charge of our seat,’’ said Walia. “We have convened a meeting of party organisation on Wednesday to begin our work.”
“Whatever they are doing now should have been done by now. The decision to make them in-charge for UP should have been taken early. For Lok Sabha elections, it’s a late decision. But for 2022 assembly elections this will help energise the Congress cadres...,” said Professor Lucknow University Nishi Pandey.