After 2022 setback, is Priyanka Gandhi back in UP Congress plans?

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others protest against the VB-G RAM G Bill at Parliament complex. (PTI/File)

When Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was appointed the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh in 2019, the party’s state leaders had hoped her entry into active politics would go a long way in the party organisation’s revival well ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. However, after an electoral debacle that saw the Congress reduced to just two seats, Priyanka receded from party affairs and was well and truly gone from UP by late 2023.

Now, over two years later, to mark the Wayanad MP’s birthday on Monday (January 12), the UP Congress is set to announce a 100-day outreach, while the party’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) wing will launch a year-long “Parivartan Pratigya (Pledge for Change)” campaign to “highlight issues of social justice”.

Already drawing attention for increasingly taking a leading role in party affairs — most recently, Priyanka was credited as the architect of the Congress’s “MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan” that began on Saturday, while her speech in Parliament during the Vande Mataram debate also caught the public eye — the buzz around the Congress leader has been growing.

The UP Congress, by linking its major campaigns to Priyanka, appears to be signalling to its cadre and leadership that the Wayanad MP is expected to play an active and crucial role in the 2027 Assembly election campaign.

On Saturday, state Congress president Ajay Rai issued a circular to 20 district and city party units saying that senior Congress leaders, including sitting and former MPs and MLAs, will release the party’s 100-day political action plan in their respective regions. These include sitting MPs such as Imran Masood in Saharanpur, Ujjwal Raman Singh in Prayagraj, Tanuj Punia in Devipatan and Rajeev Shukla in Meerut, besides MLA Virendra Chaudhary in Azamgarh, former MP Nirmal Khatri in Ayodhya, and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid in Ghaziabad, and Pradeep Jain Aditya in Chitrakoot.

Congress sources said the 100-day action plan includes holding “Samvidhan Samvaad Mahapanchayats”, or public meetings on the Constitution, and rallies targeting the BJP-ruled state and Central governments. The campaign is expected to focus on “Constitutional and democratic rights”, ranging from the Election Commission’s ongoing and controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound states to the overhaul of the UPA-I era MGNREGA rural jobs guarantee law. In addition, the party plans to reach out to the public on the local issues through nukkad (corner) meetings and seminars.

Congress leaders have also planned mega rallies to mark the end of these campaigns. While the Samvidhan Samvaad Mahapanchayats will culminate in a rally in Lucknow that is likely to be attended by Priyanka and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the Parivartan Pratigya campaign will end with a rally in early 2027.

“After a long gap, the party is undertaking such a structured outreach campaign in the state, as the organisation was busy with its cadre-building exercise for almost one year. We have decided to announce a 100-day action plan on Priyanka Gandhi’s birthday, which will include mahapanchayats, sammelans, and nukkad meetings. Having almost completed our ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (organisational rejuvenation campaign)’, it will be our first campaign in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly polls,” said a senior party leader.

During her stint in the state, Priyanka was the party’s “aggressive” face, taking on the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath government over its alleged failures. In 2021, she began the “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon (I am a girl, and I can fight)” campaign and led the anti-BJP protests over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that left four protesting farmers dead, and she was increasingly seen as “ready to lead the party on the ground”. However, she disappeared from the state after the 2022 loss even as the party stagnated organisationally and struggled to get back on its feet.

Congress sources said the party would look to capitalise on its strong showing in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and prepare for the 2027 battle with Priyanka as the face of the campaign.