Keystrokes: Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Dikhit Have An Eye On UP

Congress Pesident Sonia Gandhi Tuesday launched her party's campaign for 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections with a massive road show in Prime Minister narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi on Tuesday. Earlier this month former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was announced as the Congress' chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. Although senior Congress' leader Gulam Nabi Azad had earlier said that Sheila Dikshit was chosen for her experience but poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who was roped in by Congress to revive its floundering fortunes in Uttar Pradesh, had earlier suggested that the party should reach out to Brahmins in the run-up to the 2017 election and that a Brahmin face be projected to represent the party in elections. Congress has been out of power for 27 years in Uttar Pradesh and is projecting that the state has gone from bad to worse in these years through a campaign, called ’27 Saal, UP Behaal’. Varanasi is a key place in eastern Uttar Pradesh having some 160 of the 403 Assembly constituencies in the state. Congress had only won two seats — Amethi and Rae Bareli — in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, while BJP and its ally Apna Dal secured 73 seats out of total 80.The UP Assembly elections outcome will also have ramifications for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.