New Delhi: The Congress on Monday deployed ex-Chief Ministers Bhupesh Baghel and Ashok Gehlot to assist Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who will personally oversee the party campaign, in family strongholds Rae Bareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Baghel will be the AICC observer in Rae Bareli where former party chief Rahul Gandhi is pitted against Dinesh Pratap Singh of BJP while Gehlot will be the AICC observer in Amethi where party nominee KL Sharma is pitted against Union Minister and sitting BJP MP Smriti Irani.
Though the Congress lost the 2023 Assembly polls under Baghel in Chhattisgarh and Gehlot in Rajasthan, the two leaders won their seats in Patan and Sardarpura respectively. Both the veterans will assist Priyanka Gandhi, who will reach Amethi on May 6 evening and take charge of the party’s campaign in the two key seats. “The presence of former Chief Ministers will send a message of our seriousness in the two seats. They will inspire the local workers and their experience of fighting elections will come in handy in managing the campaign in the high-profile seats,” AICC in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat.
“Priyanka Gandhi has managed the two seats for decades in the past and will spend considerable time in the two key seats although she is a national star campaigner for the party,” he said. According to party insiders, Priyanka Gandhi is expected to do a series of small corner meetings with the voters and also go door-to-door to mobilise the electorate she is quite familiar with.
According to former UP Congress chief Brijlal Khabri, the presence of two ex-Chief Ministers will act as a deterrence for the local officials and will ease coordination issues between the local and the AICC teams.
“The BJP is a worried lot after Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from Rae Bareli. On May 5 our vehicles were attacked by the saffron party workers. There could be more such instances over the coming days. The presence of two former Chief Ministers will act as a deterrence for the district officials,” Khabri told ETV Bharat. Besides the two ex-Chief Ministers, the party also plans to deploy senior state functionaries to strengthen the campaign in Amethi and Rae Bareli by mobilising the local voters.
“I will be arriving there on May 10. Other leaders like Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Nakul Dubey, Anil Yadav and Yogesh Dixit would also campaign in the two seats. Our role would be to interact with the voters and mobilise maximum support for the party on the polling day. The party is already strong in the two seats, but some extra efforts will bring in better results,” said Khabri.
According to party insiders, the Congress campaign in the two key seats would mostly revolve around the development work done by the grand old party leaders in the past and the party’s social justice agenda in 2024.
“The BJP MP has not done much in Amethi, but she makes tall claims. Our 25 guarantees are very powerful. Our candidate KL Sharma is known to the voters for decades and he will easily win,” said Khabri. Rahul represented Amethi from 2004 to 2019. Sonia Gandhi represented Rae Bareli from 2004 to 2024 and is now a Rajya Sabha member.
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