- Sushila Singh
- BBC Hindi
Image source, YEARS
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has a simple majority in the 403-member assembly. Here the BJP, led by Yogi Adityanath, is set to rule again. Following the election victory, Yogi Adityanath met the state governor on March 11 and demanded the right to form a government.
In this context, the Congress, the second largest party in India after the ruling BJP, won only two seats in the Uttar Pradesh elections.
In the 2017 legislative elections, Congress won a total of seven seats, with the party receiving 6.25 percent of the vote. In this election, the Congress vote fell to 2.34 percent.
After the results were released, Priyanka Gandhi posted her response on her Twitter page. He acknowledged that the party had not succeeded in turning hard work into votes.
“In a democracy, the judgment of the people is final. Our volunteers and leaders worked hard. They formed the organization, the people fought for the cause. But we did not succeed in turning our hard work into votes,” Priyanka said.
However, Priyanka Gandhi, who spoke to party workers before the Assembly election results came out, told them not to be discouraged. “Our struggle has only just begun. We must move forward with new impetus,” he said.
On the other hand, Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “I humbly accept the election results. Congratulations to the winners. Thank you for the hard work of the Congress volunteers. We will learn a lesson from this. We will continue to work for the good of the people.”
Whether the idea that victory in this election would be octagonal existed before the Congress is now being discussed in depth within the party.
Priyanka Gandhi handled the party’s responsibilities in the state well during the Assembly elections. Gathered the crowd through numerous road shows and rallies. It can be seen, however, that Congress has regrets that it failed to convert it into votes.
In view of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Priyanka Gandhi chanted ‘Ladki Hoon Lad Shakti Hoon’ (I am a woman, I can fight). She published the women’s election manifesto in Lucknow. He said at the time that his party’s priority was ‘women’.
At the same time, he made many promises to empower women. The key is to ensure that women compete in 40 percent of the seats.
Priyanka kept her promise. The first list of candidates announced by the Congress to contest the election included 50 women. The Congress had given a chance to many women who had not contested in the elections so far.
Questions about leadership
“The 40 per cent block announcement for Priyanka Gandhi’s daughter is an advertising stunt. It has no political or social basis,” says senior journalist Ramdat Tripathi.
Another journalist, Amita Verma, said, “The election defeat raises some questions about Priyanka Gandhi’s leadership. Priyanka, who focused only on the election campaign, failed to notice the infighting within the party. Her campaign seemed more social than political.”
“State Congress faces like Jitin Prasad, RPN Singh, Laliteshpati Tripathi were angry with him. They wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi. They went and talked to Rahul Gandhi and he said ‘talk to Priyanka Gandhi’. But Priyanka never met them. Many left the Congress party at the time or were expelled, but he did not focus on the weakening party structure. Many of the women who gave the seats did not have mass influence. He said.
“Even in the previous strongholds of the Congress like Amethi and Ray Bareilly, the party is not strong now. All this raises some questions on the leadership of the Congress party,” Amita Verma said.
Congress has nothing to lose
Siddharth Kalhans, a political journalist for the Business Standard newspaper, said: “Congress knows it has nothing to lose.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the Congress contested with the Samajwadi Party and won 7 seats.
“This time the party gave the ticket to the grassroots volunteers and the youth. The Congress did nothing significant in this election. In 2007, the party did not contest under its symbol in 300 seats. However, this time through Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress reached the electorate in all the constituencies,” said Siddharth Kalhans.
“It was even discussed that there would be little benefit if Priyanka Gandhi contested the elections. But she only came to the fore as the star campaigner of the Congress party. She played a key role in mobilizing the masses for the party. Perhaps if Priyanka had contested the elections, she could not have focused on the entire state,” Siddharth said.
Image source, YEARS
Weak structure
Crowds flocked to see the two leaders in the road campaign of Akhilesh Yadav and Priyanka Gandhi. But senior journalists Ramdat Tripathi and Amita Verma echoed the notion that both parties were not focused on their organizational structure.
Congress has not developed any regional leader in Uttar Pradesh and has not made anyone the leader of the organization or community. Leaders like Rahul and Priyanka were forced to come from Delhi to raise any issue that might arise in the state. For example the Hadras affair, the Lakhimpur carry, the farmers problem can be mentioned.
But the visit of these leaders did not work. The general opinion was that the leaders from Delhi would return to the capital in a few days.
Siddharth Kalhans describes this election in Uttar Pradesh as a two-way street.
“The main competition in this election was between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. Under such circumstances, the vote share of these two major parties will definitely increase. The vote share of the Congress will definitely decrease, but we should appreciate Priyanka Gandhi’s effort.” He said.
Priyanka Gandhi has not been involved in politics much in the last few years. But experts say the way he appeared in UP suggests that the party had no intention of doing any miracles in this election and that the arrangements were all centered on the 2024 elections.
“Since Priyanka said at the time of the election that she would not leave Uttar Pradesh, it seems that she is not going to leave the state. She understands that the party base needs to be strengthened here. Siddharth Kalhans mentioned.
“There is ‘sympathy’ in the minds of the people for the Congress party. But the vote is ‘optimistic’. If he had been more among the people it would probably have turned into votes because the people are still skeptical. People doubt whether he will come after the election,” he said. He.
Experts believe that Priyanka Gandhi has not been so active in politics in recent years. But Priyanka understands that it will not last long. Because if Narendra Modi is to be challenged in 2024, the Congress must somehow strengthen itself in Uttar Pradesh.
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