Congress hopes for a Priyanka Gandhi push in Uttar Pradesh

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Party sources said details on Priyanka’s campaign role will be firmed up once Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi returns from his vacation. To kickstart the campaign, she is likely to share the dais with her brother and senior leaders at a party rally in Allahabad or Lucknow, sources said, adding that the date and venue for the first rally will soon be decided.

The party has already begun the groundwork for rallies that will be shows of strength in both Allahabad and Lucknow. Congress sources said Allahabad, the birthplace of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi but never really nurtured by the Gandhi family which settled for Amethi and Rae Bareli, will be one area where the party will deploy its men and resources during the poll campaign. A big turnout in Lucknow, party sources said, will send a clear message across the state.

“It is settled that she (Priyanka) will be seen beyond Amethi and Rae Bareli this election. With Rahul Gandhi, she will take on rival parties. Different leaders and strategists have different suggestions. Some have suggested that the mistakes made with Rahul in 2012, of over-exposing him, should not be repeated. There are others who feel that she should first be brought to the AICC. There’s still another section which wants her as the face of the election campaign,” a party source said, adding that the leadership has already received feedback from different sources including senior leaders and strategists.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, though Priyanka did not move out of Rae Bareli and Amethi, she took regular swipes at the campaign speeches of Narendra Modi made in different parts of the country. Those who worked with her closely in the two constituencies say she can hit back at rivals strongly.

Party sources said some leaders feel she should be brought in only when the party is sure of its campaign. These leaders, sources said, pointed out that in Rae Bareli in 2012, the candidates she backed could not deliver and the Congress could not win a single assembly seat in Rae Bareli.