The idea of countering men against women has come from election startegist Prashant Kishor whom Congress has roped in for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress Party has devised a unique strategy to counter "bahubali" (musclemen) candidates in the 2017 UP Assembly elections. The party has decided to put up women candidates against the tough guys.
The idea is the brainchild of ace election strategist Prashant Kishor whom the party has hired to salvage its sagging electoral fortunes in UP. In the past three state elections, the Congress Party's tally has remained in the 20s out of the 403 seats in the UP Assembly.
"Women candidates will definitely have a strong chance against the bad guys the SP, BSP and BJP depend upon when they know they can't win in a straight contest," says UP Congress president Nirmal Khatri. "In any case, we are planning to give a much larger chunk of tickets to women this time around," he added.
The idea of using woman power against muscle power emerged at an extended closed-door meeting Prashant Kishor had with Khatri and the AICC general secretary in charge of the party's UP affairs, Madhusudan Mistry, on Thursday.
The idea fits into the scheme of things Kishor is reported to be planning for the Congress in UP. He has been pitching for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to lead the party's electoral charge in this politically crucial state apart from party president Sonia Gandhi.
The Gandhi family has kept Priyanka limited to the family's pocket boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli hitherto. But this time around, PK (as Kishor is popularly known) has devised a strategy which would put Priyanka at the centre of the entire electoral game plan of the Congress. Party leaders say she could turn the tables if she goes on a whirlwind tour of UP for the election.
Women cadres of the party are predictably excited. "This is the chance we had been waiting for," gushes UP Mahila Congress president Pratima Singh. "We will show the goons masquerading as politicians what we are worth," she asserts, adding that she expects at least one-third of the tickets would go to women this time.
"We are in the process of identifying the seats and the women candidates who would be able to contest there," says Khatri. "We are looking for strong and dedicated workers who would not get cowed down by the bad guys of other parties," he adds.
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