Sources say that the decision to reschedule the dates took place after Priyanka received a different feedback from the local Congress workers
The election campaign to be held by Priyanka Gandhi in Raebareli and Amethi has been keeping local Congress workers on tenterhooks. The earlier plan to reach Amethi on February 13 and begin the campaign on February 14 has been delayed because of local complications. Sources say that the decision to reschedule the dates took place after Priyanka received a different feedback from the local Congress workers.
Sources told DNA that there are three seats in the family stronghold over which there is a friendly fight between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress, which has complicated the programme further. “How can you expect our leader not to campaign for the Congress candidates even if they are engaged in a friendly fight,” said a source. The local leaders also confided to DNA that they suspect that Mulayam Singh Yadav also intends to campaign in the stronghold and may do so at the place where the friendly fight is taking place.
Some leaders in Raebareli say that the alliance has benefited the Congress in the rest of the state but hasn’t helped them in the constituencies of Raebareli and Amethi. It is because of these considerations that the final programme of the most charismatic Gandhi is getting delayed. The feeling in the local unit is that a couple of expelled SP leaders, who are also contesting the elections on different symbols, may spoil the chance of the Congress candidates, which would ultimately reflect badly on the charisma of Priyanka.
One of the political aides close to Priyanka also suggested that they are ready to campaign in the districts without her, but the biggest worry is that a lack of clarity has stalled their own local campaign. On top of that, Priyanka is also more keen on meeting workers than on intense door-to-door campaigning, which is being opposed by the local workers. Sources say that the local workers want Priyanka to go for a public campaign.
Lastly, there is a feeling in one section of the party that Priyanka should not be overexposed in UP so that the mistake of 2012 is not repeated in 2017. Priyanka is expected to contest Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and the Congress, till then, would like to keep its most explosive powder dry. So a limited, defined and short campaign burst is being expected from Priyanka this time around, which, ‘if it happens’, would be different from 2012, when she held more than 200 nukad sabhas in both the constituencies.
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