Hectic parleys have begun within the top Congress leadership to decide the party’s face in the crucial Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh where it is desperate to improve its footprint lost years ago.
Newly appointed AICC incharge of UP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday called on party chief Sonia Gandhi and is believed to have discussed the probables for the State unit chief and simultaneously the face of the party in the 2017 Assembly polls.
While the party has traditionally refrained from projecting a Chief Ministerial candidate before polls, the issue gained significance after Azad remarked that the party may announce a name and indicated that Priyanka Gandhi’s role will not be confined to Amethi and Rae Bareilly.
Sources said that the party is grappling with factors like getting the caste equation right even while pondering over whether or not it should announce a face for the Chief Minister’s post. Azad is believed to have discussed couple of names with the party chief.
Azad informed Sonia that there was an overwhelming demand from State leaders that Priyanka Gandhi should be the face of the UP Congress or at least she should campaign for the party.
Strategist Prashant Kishor, roped in by the Congress to tilt the scales in its favour, too has suggested Priyanka along with Rahul Gandhi to attract voters but the idea has not found favour with the central leadership. “Kishor’s startegy was also discussed,” said a party source. Sonia is believed not be too enthusiastic about Priyanka’s larger role in the party.
Kishor’s second idea, of reverting to the Congress’ traditional Brahmin vote, has generated a buzz within the party with names of veteran Sheila Dikshit and younger Jitin Prasada doing the rounds as potential State unit chiefs. Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari may be made the chief of the campaign committee.
Azad conveyed to the leadership that he conducted a meeting of workers and asked them to go “all-out” in the run-up to the Assembly elections in the State next year.
Azad also told the leadership that he will look for such candidates in the polls who have been working “full time” among the people and have remained in constant touch even during the bad times of the party. “There was a discussion to give tickets to old loyalists of the party and their heir apparent,” sources added.
Azad mentioned that his first priority is to ensure that the party’s ground-level workers get acceptance among the people and ensure representation to all in the elections by striking a “caste balance”.