Much awaited Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into active politics raised the ardour of the main opposition party Congress and its cadre. All the channels and social media platforms couldn’t stop their enthusiasm either and covered one of the most important political developments of the country keenly.
The public in Amethi and Raebareli were especially enthusiastic and Rahul Gandhi’s presence in Amethi, while the announcement was made, worked for them as the icing on the cake. For days we will see news reports and articles on Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into active politics and what relevance it might have for the Congress party in particular and for the country in general.
One thing that all the news and political pundits have agreement on is that certainly her entry will boost the morale of Congress cadre and families in Uttar Pradesh. Her appointment was seen timely and strategic by many others as Congress gives her charge of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in India’s political crucial state Uttar Pradesh. The relevance of Jyotiraditya Scindia being given an equally important responsibility is also very important. Not only Gwalior Maharaj will have an impact on bordering constituencies but will play an important factor given his image of a dynamic and young leader.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi himself in his message hoped that the new AICC team ‘will herald the dawn of a new kind of politics in Uttar Pradesh’.
Before this development took place, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party sidelined Congress thinking that the old grand party has hardly anything to offer to the Mahagathbandhan. BSP Supremo Mayawati went ahead and denied any possibility of having Congress in the alliance terming Congress’ and BJP’ ideology alike. Nonetheless, there was still a large number of believers who thought that Congress has a potential in Uttar Pradesh given the discontent of the farmers with the ruling BJP and distress in the rural economy, lost promise of job creation, after effects of demonisation, and Rahul Gandhi’s success in breaking two important myths i.e. that BJP is not invincible and Modi’s image as an honest politician is not beyond question. The recently concluded assembly elections of five states and Congress winning three major Hindi heartland states was also a major argument that this section was giving in Congress’ favor.
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Those who know Uttar Pradesh well also claimed that Brahmins might come back to Congress’ kitty and Muslims also will see Congress a more potent force in national elections than to SP that remains a regional force. Now all these possibilities have found a catalyst in Priyanka Gandhi who will also be actively partaking in the reactions that a catalyst leads to. Combine all this and you have a major force in the form of Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
Most importantly if we look closer then the Congress actually has the potential to even better it’s 2009 performance by winning more than 20 seats in the state.
Congress will also benefit in the battle array with the presence of more than two dozen strong leaders who will be Lok Sabha contenders as well. Raj Babbar, Pramod Tiwari, PL Punia, Rajesh Mishra, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Jatin Prasada, RPN Singh, Ratna Kumari, Pradeep Jain Aditya, Pradeep Mathur, Nirmal Khatri, Arun Kumar Munna, Lalitesh Pati Tripathy, Nadeem Javed, Begum Noor Bano, and others might have an edge in a three-corner fight, given their own stature and Congress’ ability to garner BJP’s upper castes mainly Brahmins and Muslims votes.
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With this Congress look up to better its 2009 tally by winning more than two dozen seats and being a serious contender in another dozen and a half seats. If 2009 was Rahul Gandhi’s wave than 2019 will see a Priyanka Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh. Sensing this sentiment Congress workers have already termed Priyanka Gandhi as aandhi while her comparison with late Indira Gandhi is inevitable.
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