As Priyanka departs, UP Congress not surprised: ‘She never returned (after 2022 loss)’

Pande is a grassroots worker of the party and has worked closely with AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh in Uttar Pradesh and AICC secretary Madhusudhan Mistry. Pande is considered to be a close aide of Rahul Gandhi and his appointment is being seen within the party as “Team Rahul” taking over, albeit from a distance. The appointment also sends a signal to the Congress cadre. In a state where caste politics plays a significant role, the appointment of Pande, a Brahmin, is being viewed as the Congress’s attempt at “social engineering”. State Congress President Ajay Rai is the party’s “Bhumihar face” from east UP.

Pande has been known for his organisational skills since his Youth Congress days and party insiders said the leadership feels he can help rebuild the state organisation. The 65-year-old started his career in the 1970s as a leader of the Congress’s student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), and gradually rose through the ranks. In 2008, he lost the Rajya Sabha election to industrialist Rahul Bajaj by just one vote. He subsequently went on to serve as a member of the Upper House from Maharashtra between 2010 and 2016. Pande, who hails from Nagpur, has previously served in many organisational roles, including as AICC in-charge of Rajasthan.

UP Congress insiders said it was high time that someone hands-on oversaw the functioning of the state unit as seat-sharing talks with the Samajwadi Party (SP) are going to be tricky in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

Priyanka’s tenure

Meanwhile, Priyanka’s tryst with Uttar Pradesh began around 2018. She earlier restricted herself to Amethi and Rae Bareli before being placed in charge of east UP in January 2019. Following the exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia who was then in charge of the party in west UP, Priyanka was appointed the AICC leader in charge of the entire state in September 2020.

After taking over, Priyanka became the party’s “aggressive face”, meeting the families of victims who were allegedly mowed down by Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son in Lakhimpur Kheri. She also took on the Yogi Adityanath government over other alleged failures of governance. Then state Congress chief Ajay Lallu was seen as her choice as he was seen as “ready to lead protests on the ground”.

Priyanka’s Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon (I am a woman, I can fight) campaign for the Assembly polls last year failed to resonate with voters and the Congress was reduced to its worst-ever showing of two seats in the 403-member House.

“One can understand her anger as her campaign did not yield results due to the lack of cadre in UP. Rahul rightly said in the meeting the party is facing repeated losses as leaders in the state do not aspire to lead from the front and work in that direction. However, many leaders felt that the poll losses are a result of a larger disconnect over the past few years stemming from the existing leadership in the state,” a senior Congress leader quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying at a recent meeting in New Delhi.