Mission 2022: Clamour grows in Congress to declare Priyanka Gandhi as UP CM candidate

The Congress party leaders called for declaring the party's general secretary Priyanka Gandhi as the chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh. This comes amid Priyanka Gandhi shifting base to Lucknow and her repeated run-ins with the UP government over several issues

New Delhi: With the reports of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi shifting base to Lucknow, the clamour for her being declared as the chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh grows within the party.

The demands got triggered after Center asked Priyanka Gandhi to vacate her bungalow at Lodhi Estate in Delhi, within a month.

On one hand, Congress is calling the move as a reflection of the "deep hatred and vendetta politics of BJP Government" towards the Nehru-Gandhi family, sources closed to the party said that Priyanka Gandhi's plans to shift base was finalized in March but got derailed because of coronavirus-induced lockdown.

These reports led to the rise in clamour within the party to position Priyanka Gandhi as party's CM face, to revive the party in the Hindi heartland, where Congress' role became limited to providing outside support to the government, since 1989.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Congress Spokesperson, Anshu Awasthi said that the demand to declare Priyanka Gandhi as CM candidate of UP was rising ever since she took the charge of the state.

Read:Notice to Priyanka Gandhi emanated from BJP's hatred of Nehru-Gandhi family: Venugopal

"UP wants an alternate to BJP. They have seen the governance of SP and BSP. From the past 30 years, Congress is failing to give a party face in UP. That gap will be filled by Priyanka Gandhi ji," he said.

Congress MP, Karti Chidambaram took social media platforms to express the same demand while tweeting, "The path for a national revival of Congress is via Uttar Pradesh. The clearest statement of intent will be to declare Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the chief ministerial candidate of Congress in UP."

Being the General Secretary In-Charge of Eastern UP, Priyanka has activated the party on the ground, trying to help in repairing a massive disconnect of Congress rank with the state.

She has also been quite vocal on social media against the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government's policies by targeting the ruling party on various issues, including rising crime, poor law and order and misgovernance.

Notably, soon after Priyanka Gandhi took up the task of reviving Congress' fortune in Uttar Pradesh, she also kicked off Mission UP 2022, directing party leaders to compile data of Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Muslims in each of the 403 assembly constituencies in the state to know the caste composition.

Read:It's just political vendetta, says Ahmed Patel on Priyanka Gandhi's eviction notice, ED questioning

Congress registered its worst-ever performance in the 2017 Assembly Elections in UP despite having a tie-up with Samajwadi Party (SP), bagging just seven seats.

While in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, after the political rivals SP and BSP came together, Congress got left out of the combine leading to the loss of Rahul Gandhi's seat from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi's debut as General Secretary Incharge resulted to be disastrous.

In the last few months, Priyanka Gandhi has shown an intent to lead the path alone.

Recently, she also took on BSP supremo Mayawati, calling her an "unofficial spokesperson of BJP" as the latter stood with the government's stand on China.

"In the meeting of UP Congress, she had clarified that Congress will contest the elections on its own because people of our state want it. They want Congress to go alone in the upcoming polls. Whenever, Congress party compromise during the polls, these people of Uttar Pradesh gets disappointed," stated Awasthi.

Hinting about the party's future plan, Congress Rajya Sabha MP, Vivek Tankha also tweeted about the matter, "Priyanka Ji took a great decision to shift Lucknow. Now Yogi ji will know what opposition really is. The situation of the UP government and the plight of people is getting worse day by day. Congress' return is very much possible.

However, the task to revive Congress in UP is still quite challenging for Priyanka Gandhi which will require effective local leaders as well as a compelling narrative, given the current political climate.