The Congress party will have to do much more to see that the BJP and the SP are stopped in their tracks if it is to win UP.
It is poll season in five states, and it is Uttar Pradesh that is hogging all the limelight. Though action is riding the crest in states like Punjab and Goa, Uttar Pradesh seems to be at the centre of all things. This is because the outcome of the Assembly polls would be seen as a pointer to what the BJP rule at the Centre is actually worth.
On one side there is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) going all out to retain power in the state and thereby act as an endorsement to the policies of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. On the other side there are outfits such as the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress. While Akhilesh Yadav has been firing on all cylinders to get the reins of power and thereby dole out a decimating defeat to Yogi Adityanath and team, the Bahujan Samaj Party has been doing silent work in the hope of bagging the maximum number of seats.
Priyanka powers Congress in UP
The Congress party, in the meantime, has had a rollercoaster ride. With Priyanka Gandhi spearheading the campaign, the party workers are an excited lot. However, setbacks in terms of defection of senior party leaders, unnecessary tongue in cheek remarks by Priyanka and many such ill-advised moves have pulled the party back. However, the party doesn’t seem to be giving up.
The Congress has a lot of old war horses picking up ammunition for the poll battle in UP like there is no tomorrow. Though there have been wars of words with rivals, the party is making sure that no unnecessary comment targeting individual leaders would be uttered. So far, it has been good in terms of a wiser, mature fight.
When Priyanka Gandhi Vadra begins her door-to-door campaign from Noida, the party will be looking towards capitalising on the goodwill it has at the moment. The womenfolk in UP is prime priority for the party in UP and it has given tickets to 40 per cent women.
Congress will have to do more
The plank is empowerment of women, and Priyanka knows this will strike a chord with the women who would make themselves available for voting when the state goes to the polls. The party has outed its fourth list of 61 candidates, and that includes 24 women. As of now, the party has given tickets to 127 women in the state.
But how far would the goodwill it currently enjoys among the womenfolk translate into votes needs to be seen. The Congress party has been making sure that unnecessary personal attacks are a minimum. And to add strength to that, Priyanka Gandhi’s women-oriented measures are getting popular too.
However, the party would need to up its act if it is to win the polls. It needs to do a bit more to see that the BJP is decimated and the SP is stopped in its tracks if the party is to come to power, yet again. But all that seems like far from achievable. But no one knows how the trend will shift in the coming days.
