Can Priyanka save the Congress party?

Desperate to regain some lost ground the Congress party foresees a major role for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. As per media reports, her campaign won’t be limited to Amethi and Rae Bareli (the Lok Sabha constituencies of her brother and mother respectively). So, as we approach the all-important UP elections, political pundits will be busy assessing the Priyanka impact on the voters. But the million-dollar question is whether she herself can stem the rot in her party.

The strategy to push Priyanka up the party rank only proves the drought Congress is facing so far as leadership is concerned. With Rahul Gandhi failing to salvage a sinking boat, it’s left to his sister to take charge under crisis.

Party president Sonia Gandhi has indirectly given ample hints that she is ready to make way for her son’s elevation. Roping in Priyanka at this juncture only opens a platform for a meticulous study of what the party has in store now and in future.

Given a scenario where Priyanka becomes the star campaigner, what will Rahul be left with? Secondly, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) going all-out to oust the Samajwadi Party (SP) from power, can Priyanka manage to put up a fight against experienced political foes?

Crime, corruption and intra-party squabbles have put the Akhilesh Yadav government on a sticky wicket. BJP led by party president Amit Shah is leaving no stone unturned to queer the ruling party’s pitch in the state. The preparations for the anti-SP campaign started quite a while back. On the contrary, Congress has kick-started its journey a bit too late. Despite Congress’s political strategist for UP Prashant Kishore underscoring a Gandhi angle in the lead, the high command took its own sweet time to decide on who would captain the ship. Rahul, once suggested by Prashant to be the face of the party in the elections, sees a larger role for himself i.e. becoming the party chief. And this is where his sister steps in.

Politics is all about maturity and Priyanka’s skills to challenge the likes of Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and others remain to be tested. Merely cashing in on the Gandhi surname might not prove adequate for her party when BJP has turned out to be a formidable force having captured power at the Centre with a massive mandate. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have no insignificant role to play with their respective vote-banks in the elections. Judged in this perspective a lot will depend on electoral adjustments among the parties.    

Both SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had at different points of time extended support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government support during the latter’s ten-year reign at the Centre. And this is the reason why Congress remained almost silent during the time of the Mathura riots. The age-old party was backed by Mayawati's BSP during the Uttarakhand crisis and the Rajya Sabha elections. So, what exactly will be Priyanka’s strategy?

Caught between two sworn enemies BSP and SP, it will be an uphill task for Priyanka to chart out a different course for her party. She will do well to form an anti-BJP front with the help of SP and BSP, but that possibility looks bleak.

BJP on the other hand is going hammer and tongs on the Akhilesh government. If union home minister Rajnath Singh is projected as the chief ministerial candidate, then it will give huge fillip to the party’s journey to the secretariat in Lucknow. By placing a backward caste leader like Keshav Maurya as the state president, Modi and his team have played the perfect caste game. A Brahmin as the CM and a backward caste leader at the helm of the party in the state give BJP a big edge over its rivals. A union cabinet rejig could see the induction of some faces from UP which would further strengthen BJP's prospects in the state.

Congress on the other hand isn’t categorical on Priyanka’s role as of now.  Those Congressmen who want her to steer the party during the UP elections probably feel she has the charisma to create an electoral wave in favour of her party.  If she travels the nook and corner of the state for the party, does it make her the CM candidate? It’s quite unlikely that Priyanka will be keen on being projected as the CM if her party is in a position to form the government.

 Priyanka will have many battles to face while she asks for votes. She will have to match up to the oratorical skills of Modi who will try to push her on the back foot over allegations of corruption against her husband Robert Vadra. BJP will play on the development plank keeping the Prime Minister in front. Both SP and BSP will try to woo voters in their own way.

The opposition will also try to create fissures within Congress over the larger responsibility given to Priyanka overlooking Rahul. As BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra is quoted in The Indian Express, “Congress is eager to bring in Priyanka Gandhi for Uttar Pradesh, it is their internal matter. It makes three things clear. One is that the Congress can never come out of its family, they even want leadership in Gandhi family. Congress’ attempt to bring in Priyanka shows that Rahul Gandhi has failed.”

 Amidst all this, Congress will be hoping against hope that Priyanka lends credibility to a party which has been almost decimated on the political map.

The whole nation will be watching the UP elections with profound interest to see if the Priyanka gamble pays off. If it does, it is bound to have wide-ranging consequences which will not be confined to UP alone.