Uttar Pradesh: Prashant Kishor sets tough agenda for Congress

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has set up a tough agenda for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Kishor, during his recent meeting with party leaders, had sought names and telephone numbers of 20 active party workers from each Vidhan Sabha segment. These party workers are to be ones who are not ticket seekers. The list has to be submitted by March 31 along with a 15 page form, duly filled.

Apparently, Mr Kishor wants to directly interact with these party workers and work out the strategy for each segment. He will also keep a watch on the progress in each assembly segment.

Congress leaders in each district are now finding it difficult to find 20 active party workers who are ready to work for the party but without seeking a ticket for themselves. The frontal organisations have also been asked to submit two names each from every Assembly segment. A Congress district president from Central UP admitted that it is near impossible to find 20 persons who can work selflessly for the party without expecting an immediate return.

“Everyone wants instant gains and no one has the patience to wait longer for a ticket. The moment we ask them to work for the party without asking for a ticket, they turn their backs on us,” he said.

Another district president apprehended that the exercise may set up a parallel party organisation in every district. “Those from the mainstream Congress are unwilling to be listed as workers — they all want to be recognised as leaders. If Mr Kishore still insists on 20 names, then we may have to enlist outside support and this will lead to clashes within the party,” he explained.

A senior Congress leader, also a former UPCC president, however, lauded the formula of Mr Prashant Kishor and said that he had hit the nail on the head.

“I am now hopeful about the future of the Congress. Mr Kishor had identified the malaise that is affecting he Congress in UP. In the state, we have no workers, only leaders and this has crippled the organisation because no one is ready to work at the grassroots level. If Prashant Kishor has managed to identify the problem, he can also treat it,” the leader said.

UPCC president Nirmal Khatri, however, downplayed the problem and said that every Congress worker in Uttar Pradesh was ready to work for the revival of the party. “At the moment, we are all waiting to see the Congress back in power and every party worker — big or small — is ready to work towards the goal,” he said.