A game-changer for Congress but challenges remain
AMETHI: With the formal entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into active politics as the new Congress general secretary for UP (east), the long-standing suspense over her role in the party has finally ended.
According to experts, the move will infuse a new energy in the Congress cadre and prove to be a game-changer for the party in Uttar Pradesh.
However, she also faces the challenge of making the Congress a major player in UP where it has been out of power since 1989.
Though Priyanka had been campaigning for the party in the Gandhi family bastions of Rae Bareli and Amethi, she had chosen to work behind the scenes for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi.
The demand to bring Priyanka into active politics was raised time and again from within the Congress. On a number of occasions, posters came up in various districts to seek a bigger role for Priyanka in the party. Former head of the department of political science at Lucknow University SK Dwivedi said: “Congress leaders have been demanding for long to bring Priyanka into politics. Her active campaign will help the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as people identify her with her grandmother and former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi.”
“As personality cult has helped political parties win elections in the past, Priyanka’s entry will be of great help. However, she will have to work hard and the Congress will have to do much more than relying on her to win the election,” he said.
Dwivedi’s assertion holds true in view of the fact that the party has not been able to replicate its Lok Sabha poll performances in UP assembly polls so far as Gandhi family bastions are concerned. In the 2017 UP assembly elections, she held only two public meetings in Rae Bareli and stayed away from campaigning on other seats.
Many partymen said friendly contests between the Congress and the SP candidates in some assembly seats kept her away. Now that she is set to campaign for the Congress for LS elections, her other challenge would be to strike a balance with the SP-BSP alliance even if her party contests the polls on its own.
However, Congress leaders and workers are upbeat and say that the appointment of Priyanka would be a game-changer.
“We have been demanding this for long. The decision to appoint her as AICC general secretary for UP (east) will invigorate the party cadre. We are in a joyous mood and partymen are celebrating her appointment,” said UP Congress spokesman Peeyush Mishra.