On the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of polls, which will cover the Gandhi family bastion of Raebareli, Congress president Sonia Gandhi issued a video message for constituents of her Lok Sabha seat. She said the BJP government had done nothing, from farmers to youth, or stray cattle to prices, just divided people. “Yeh chunav aapke liye bahut hi mahatvapurna chunav hai (This election is a very significant election for you),” she urged the people. The message could have been the other way round. Sonia has not been able this time to campaign in Raebareli, her Lok Sabha constituency that was the only seat won by the Congress in 2019 from Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has shouldered the party’s campaign in the state, including Raebareli where the Congress won two seats in 2017, with those MLAs too now in the BJP. Two days to go for polls, voters in Raebareli say they will always “respect” the Gandhi family and appreciate Priyanka's “hard work”. But with “all due apologies”, they add, their vote will be for someone “ who can form the government”. The Congress had won just seven seats overall in UP in 2017 (its lowest tally), with two of them in Raebareli – Raebareli Sadar (Aditi Singh) and Harchandpur (Rakesh Singh). The Lok Sabha seat has been represented by the Gandhis since the time of Indira, and now remains the party’s only face-saver in UP after Rahul Gandhi was defeated in neighbouring Amethi in the 2019 polls. And the Congress’s problems in Raebareli are symbolic of its struggle for revival across UP. What can it offer them, voters ask, who believe they have missed the development bus for standing by the Congress. A comparison they make is of the long delay in making the AIIMS in Raebareli sanctioned under the UPA government, to the one coming up in Yogi Adityanath’s Gorakhpur. Priyanka led the way this time in not just selection of candidates but also giving the campaign a distinct direction with the slogan of “larki hun lar sakti hun”. Also on test is her giving 40% tickets to women candidates — mainly those who fought in any form, from the mother of a rape victim to one who was jailed for protest against CAA to a health worker fighting for wages. Other parties have said the Congress chose this path because it fell short of candidates, given the exit of leaders like Lalitesh Tripathi and Imran Masood. However, there is also a faint hope, even among many senior leaders, that these first-timers could change the tide for the Congress. After several elections in alliances, the party this time is contesting all the 403 seats. This would at least improve its vote graph, if nothing else. There are six Assembly seats in Raebareli district. In 2007, when the Congress was in power at the Centre, it had won five of them, with the lone remaining taken by a Congress rebel. In 2012, when the SP was voted to power, its candidates had won five of the six constituencies. In 2017, when the vote was for a BJP government, the party had won four constituencies, with two going to the Congress. This means that their loyalty to the Gandhi family notwithstanding when it comes to the Lok Sabha, for the Assembly, voters generally stick to the party seen as winning. This time the only seat where people give the Congress a chance is Baccharawan (Reserved), where its Sushil Pasi is up against the candidate of BJP partner Apna Dal, who is facing anti-incumbency. At Raebareli Sadar, flour mill owner Satish Chandra says of Congress-turned-BJP candidate Aditi Singh: “Jeetiye wahi lekin bahut kashta se jeetiye (She will win, but with great difficulty).” Giving Aditi a fight is the SP's R P Yadav. The Congress has fielded a Thakur, well-known local doctor Manish Singh Chauhan. Harikesh Singh Bhadauria, 68, of Harchandpur, where the other Congress rebel, Rakesh Singh, is contesting as a BJP candidate, confesses “bahut samman (a lot of respect)” for Sonia. “Priyanka is also working very hard. But the fight is between the BJP and SP.” The Congress would have one consolation, he says. “Zameen kuchch behtar hogi (it will perform better than 2017).” In Unchahar Assembly seat in Raebareli, the SP’s Manoj Pandey is seen to be barely getting any help from its BJP import Swami Prasad Maurya, who wanted the ticket for his son Utkrista. Pandey is facing Yadav backlash for allegedly favouring his community in some murders. However, a government employee in Unchahar says for them the factors are different, starting with “jatiya samikaran (caste equations)”. “While stray cattle are a big issue, people are getting rations, money in their accounts. Logon ko dar hai, double engine ki sarkar chali gayi to yeh suvidhayen bhi na chali jayen. Modi sautela vyavahar na karne lage UP se (Public fears that if the BJP loses and there is no longer a double-engine government, these facilities might end. Modi might show step-motherly treatment to UP).”
