For Congress, Priyanka Gandhi a game-changing googly in Uttar Pradesh

It was a quiet morning in January. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had reached his constituency Amethi to meet party workers. A party worker came to his side and said, “Sahab, karyakartaon ka manobal bahut neecha hai, kuch kariye” (Sir, the morale of party workers is low, please do something). Rahul Gandhi said – “Chinta mat kariye, Dilli se  dawa jaldi aa rahi hai”. (Don’t worry, medicine is coming soon from Delhi). And within a few hours, the party announced Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into active politics.

But before the Congress party leaders could react to the development in their own backyard, there came a volley of reactions from the BJP. The tone was dismissive. Some of the jibes were downright nasty. The common theme was that her impact would be minimal. I met an auto driver in Noida, who picked up a political conversation with me. When I asked him about BJP’s reaction about Priyanka’s entry in politics, he quipped “Samajh nahi aata inke pet mein dard kyon ho raha hai”.

Soon after her political debut as Congress general secretary for UP East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made a grand entry into Uttar Pradesh. Thousands cheered as her cavalcade slowly made its way through Lucknow in a 15-kilometre roadshow.

The enthusiasm pervading Congress workers was visible. A group of young volunteers who called themselves Priyanka Sena wore t-shirts that read, “Desh ke samman mein, Priyanka ji maidan mein, Maan bhi denge, Samman bhi denge, Waqt padega toh jaan bhi denge (For the honour of the nation, Priyanka marches on; she has our respect, and we pledge to give our lives if time demands its).

A few days ago, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party had sealed their alliance with 38 – 38 seats for each to contest in Uttar Pradesh, leaving two (Amethi and Rae Bareli) to the Congress, along with another two seats to an ally. This arrangement  practically ignored the Congress, with the promise of support in Amethi and Rae Bareli smacking of condescension.

The Priyanka move was intended as a gamechanger. The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) office in Lucknow, better known as Nehru Bhawan in Mall Avenue, which used to bear a deserted look, was flooded with Congress workers, giving hope to them that the Congress was back in the reckoning in the state. And even Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party leaders immediately picked up the signal. Soon, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said that the alliance knitted with the BSP could be reworked, hinting that he was now open to the idea of entering into some alliance or understanding with the Congress.

The Congress can boast of strong candidates in many other seats, barring Amethi and Rae Bareli in UP. Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s statement that the party would be batting on the front foot and battling it out in all the 80 seats did not appear entirely boastful.

Some of these names are R P N Singh from Kushi Nagar, P L Punia from Barabanki, Shri Prakash Jaiswal from Kanpur, Anu Tandon from Unnao, Jitin Prasada from Dhaurahra, Pradeep Jain Aditya from Jhansi, Begum Noor Bano from Rampur and Imran Masood from Saharanpur. Not to be counted out is UPCC president and star campaigner Raj Babbar. Actress-turned-politician Nagma has also been asking for a party ticket for Parliamentary election for quite some time now. Leaders like Ambika Chaudhary, Naresh Agarwal and Jagdambika Pal may be inspired to join the Congress tent now. Overall, the Priyanka googly can be said to have boosted the position of 20 strong candidates.

Meanwhile, Om Prakash Rajbhar, the rebel minister of Yogi Adityanath government and the president of Suhaldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, Shivpal Yadav, who heads the breakaway faction of the Samajwadi Party, Sanjay Nishad of the NISHAD Party, Mohammad Ayub of the Peace Party and Krishna Patel of the Apna Dal are looking for a big umbrella that the Congress may now provide.

An alliance with Keshav Dev Maurya of Mahan Dal has already been sewn up. The Mahan Dal claims the support of OBC voters of western UP, especially shakyas, mauryas and kushwahas. Another entry into the party was Avtar Singh Bhadana, the BJP MLA from Mirapur in Uttar Pradesh. Bhadana is a three-time MP from Faridabad constituency in Haryana and one-time MP from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. He is said to enjoy some standing in the Gurjar belt of Western Uttar Pradesh.

Since 2009, Congress has notched up 10% of votes and won 28 seats at various times. The bua-bathija (Akhilesh – Mayawati) combine may need to sit up and take notice of the Congress now.