In another first, Gandhi will himself be part of door-to-door campaign which is a first for any Gandhi after Indira.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is once again set to go in for a major image makeover. His month-long campaign in Uttar Pradesh on farmer's debt intends to recraft his image of a 10am to 6pm politician into a full time 24x7 political actor. Sources inside his campaign team confirmed to dna that Rahul Gandhi during his entire campaign will not return to Delhi even once, not even for the weekend. "The idea to blunt BJP's charge that Rahul Gandhi jumps from one issue to another. He will stick to one issue for an entire month and that the Centre should waive off farmer's debts in Uttar Pradesh," a source said.
In another first, Gandhi will himself be part of door-to-door campaign which is a first for any Gandhi after Indira. Congress intends to target 2 crore households in this door-to-door campaign for which 2.5 lakh workers have been identified. The identified workers would concentrate on 25,000 blocks selected by the Congress party. Gandhi himself would cover 2,500 km. The unique feature of the campaign would be that every targeted household will get a receipt from Congress after getting the pledge signed that if they come back to power then Congress would waive off farmers' loan and half the electricity tariff for the agrarian sector. Once the target is met and receipts collected, Rahul Gandhi will return to Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi will cover 55 Lok Sabha constituencies and 225 assembly segments in this phase. He will clock 11 hours every day that he spends in Uttar Pradesh. His meetings would start at 10.30am on any given day and would only end at 9.30pm in the night.
UP campaign manager Prashant Kishore has also taken a leaf out of his old strategy. The missed call campaign will be deployed for Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh. The number would be advertised and anyone who gives a missed call would get connected to a recorded message of Rahul Gandhi on the farmer's issue.
Other parties though remain unimpressed. BJP spokesperson Sudesh Verma said that Congress is neither a force nor an alternative in UP. "Mayawati is the only option to Samajwadi Party," added BSP's Sudhindra Bhaduria. Even Congress understands that it stands fourth in the race. Even after Bhatta Parsaul padyatra and a campaign based around farmers' issues in 2012 UP assembly elections, Congress came in a miserable fourth. Even then Rahul Gandhi had invested lot of time in Uttar Pradesh. Congress disagrees. "Our support to loan waiver issue remains despite our electoral reverses," said Congress spokesperson RPN Singh.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Rahul Gandhi")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}