Congress may decide on Priyanka Gandhi after October

It has been almost two months since the Congress hit the roads in Uttar Pradesh; it was the first party to start campaigning for the upcoming Assembly polls.

The party has targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in the state. The promise of a farm loan waiver has also been thrown in to attract voters.

Now the Congress is thinking of falling back on Priyanka Gandhi, the ace up its sleeve.

The official role of Ms Gandhi till now has been to look after the constituencies of Amethi and Rae Barielly. But this time the Congress wants her to campaign actively across the state.

The thinking in the party is that since so much has been put into creating a momentum, it would be beneficial if Ms Gandhi campaigned.

However some within the party feel that it would be premature to use her in the current Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Ms Gandhi till now has played an active role behind the scenes in the UP campaign. Party general-secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had said after taking over his current charge, “Congressman of UP want Ms Gandhi to campaign across the state and I have conveyed it to her too.”

Sources also indicate she has been a key figure in the planning of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election campaign.

While Congress managers have drawn up a plan for Ms Gandhi, it awaits the nod of the family. The initial plan is to launch Ms Gandhi from Allahabad Anand Bhawan on November 19, the 99th birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

After conclusion of the Deoria to Delhi Kisan Yatra of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in October, there will be an assessment of the yatra. Based on the assessment, the final plans of Ms Gandhi’s intervention will be worked out.

The Congress had come in number four in the last two Assembly elections in UP.