UP polls: Congress mum over reports on Priyanka as star campaigner

“Whenever it happens, you will know,” party spokesman Jairam Ramesh said, quoting Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad when asked about reports if Priyanka would lead the campaign in UP and address as many as 150 meetings. He, however, dismissed suggestions that Priyanka taking the centre stage in campaigning in Uttar Pradesh showed poorly on Rahul’s leadership.

Azad, who is the in-charge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh, has already favoured Priyanka becoming pro-active in campaigning all over the state. He has also expressed the possibility of the party naming a chief ministerial candidate in the state.

On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Satya Dev Tripathi had said that Priyanka would step out of her family pocket boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli to campaign for the party all over the state.

Meanwhile, star poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who has been roped in by the Congress to assist the party in UP, has reportedly suggested that if Rahul declined to lead the party in the state, Priyanka by all means should.

The Congress is in political wilderness in UP for over 26 years, which saw the emergence of Mandal and Mandir issues and the rise of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Ramesh, who had earlier said that Rahul would take over as the party chief this year, however, steered clear of questions on when the Congress vice-president would be elevated. 

“Rahul has come back from his foreign visit and will be busy in the Monsoon session of Parliament, beginning July 18, and also on the campaign for the implementation of the Forest Rights Act”, he said.

Last month, Ramesh had said in an interview that “Rahul Gandhi is the de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure” and make the party battle ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ramesh had insisted that the Congress vice-president had “a lot of ideas on organisational restructuring and I hope he gets into position very soon. He is de facto, but he should become de jure”.

The Congress has witnessed reverses after reverses in elections since it lost power in the Lok Sabha polls in May 2014 and in which it posted its worst ever performance of 44 seats in the House of 543.