Priyanka for rebuilding Congress with grounded workers
India’s Congress party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is trying to rebuild the party in Uttar Pradesh and her strategy is to bring in new and energetic faces into the organisation.
In the coming Assembly by-polls in the state, the party has chosen young, fresh faces as most of the senior leaders were not keen to enter the fray.
Gandhi, the party in-charge of East UP, decided to field young Karishma Thakur to contest from Govind Nagar seat as former MLA Ajay Kapoor didn't want to contest, while in Pratapgarh, Youth Congress leader Neeraj Tripathi has been nominated as the party candidate.
In last three months, she has met all the stake-holders from each district and sought their suggestion. She has also met all the senior leaders of the state in batches and individually.
A source close to her said that she "firmly believes that organisational post should be given to people who are at ground zero and ready to work for the party".
A senior leader said, "The Congress has been decimated in the state. The resurgent BJP has a charismatic leader like Narendra Modi and only a strong organisation with young faces can put the party back on track."
Gandhi is doing the same.
Former union minister Jitin Prasada said, "Where are the opposition parties on public issues, be it Chinmayanand or Sonbhadra. Priyanka Gandhi is leading from the front. She is doing politics of agitation which will take the party forward."
The Congress leader is seeking to intervene on every issue concerned to public, whether it was the Unnao rape case or the Shahjahanpur case. On Thursday, she also tweeted on the Banda rape incident, where the rape survivor has been asked by police to produce two witnesses.
Gandhi's main aim is to position the Congress as the principal opposition party. As the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have also gone down, Congress is seeking the opportunity to regain the status it once enjoyed and seeking to ensure all those who don't want the BJP at the helm support it instead.
Under her strategy, the plan ahead is to visit each division and organise meetings of all the Lok Sabha seats falling under it. Congress leaders have been asked to be active at ground zero in the state.
In her selection for the state party chief, Gandhi has made it clear that her parameters are different. A person who is willing to go will get responsibility, said an insider.