Congress workers want party to project Priyanka Gandhi as CM candidate for UP Assembly poll

LUCKNOW: Even as suspense over Congress president continues with Rahul Gandhi insisting on quitting the post, Congress workers from Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday demanded that Congress should project Priyanka Gandhi as party's chief ministerial face ahead of Assembly election in the state.

The Congress workers from 42 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh had assembled at Rae Bareli's Bhueamau Guest House where Priyanka was on a day-long visit to introspect over the cause of the party's disappointing performance in the recently held Lok Sabha election. Priyanka, who is also Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, visited Rae Bareli with her mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. While Priyanka held meeting with Congress leaders to find out the cause for the party’s defeat in Uttar Pradesh, Sonia Gandhi has come to Rae Bareli to thank the party workers who helped her win from this seat.

After the daylong discussions, the Congress workers concluded that weak organisation was the main reason for the party's poor show in Uttar Pradesh during the general election. The party workers also said in future Congress should fight all elections alone without stitching an alliance with any party whatsoever. During the meeting, Congress leader RK Chaudhary said that the party would not be able to put up a strong fight without expanding its vote bank in the state.

Another Congress leader opined that the party could expand its footprints in the state by nurturing new leadership, including leaders from all strata of society.  Congress leader from Varanasi Rajesh Misra who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha poll from Salempur constituency said that his selection as party's candidate from Salempur was not right.

However, the important outcome of the meeting was the unanimous demand from all the Congress workers that the party should contest 2022 assembly election by projecting Congress general secretary Priyanka as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. The workers were of the opinion that this would help the party in mobilising new party workers and reactivate the die-hard Congress supporters. Sources said that Priyanka didn’t say anything on the demand of the party workers.

It is learnt that a confidential report on Congress president Rahul Gandhi's defeat from Amethi was also submitted to Priyanka during the meeting. The report was submitted by Amethi district president Yogesh Misra. Interestingly, Misra was also one of the few Congress leaders who had tendered resignation owning the responsibility for Rahul's defeat.