New Delhi, June 15: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has decided to meet party workers regularly as part of her plans for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Congress workers will be able to Priyanka Gandhi every Tuesday and Thursday between 10 am and 1 pm. These meetings will be held at Congress President Rahul Gandhi's residence in Delhi.
Priyanka, who is also in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has met over 150 workers in the past two weeks at her as well as brother Rahul's residence. During her visit to Raebareli along with her mother Sonia Gandhi, she said she would meet people twice a week in the state. Visibly furious, Priyanka also reprimanded party workers over Congress's poor show and said she will identify who didn't work.
The Congress party could win just one (Raebareli) out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi also lost his traditional Amethi seat to Smriti Irani. Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections by winning a paltry 52 seats. "After the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, Priyanka Gandhi has started meeting party leaders and workers at her residence here," a senior Congress source told IANS.
Priyanka has also decided to visit the state in order to connect with the grassroots-level workers and a blueprint of the visit is being worked upon. Priyanka has said that all senior leaders were welcome to Delhi for party work and has told them that her staff will fully cooperate in this endeavour. In her recent meetings with Congress workers, she sought their opinions on who can lead the party. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra As CM Candidate in 2022, Demand Party Workers in Rae Bareli.
Most of the people proposed Pramod Tiwari’s name, while a few suggested for Nirmal Khatri. However, no consensus emerged in the meeting. One of the observers who was in the meeting said Priyanka Gandhi sought the opinion of the candidates on how to strengthen the party. The district presidents were asked to tell their preference for leadership.
While campaigning during the general elections, Priyanka had asked the party workers to start preparing for the 2022 Assembly elections. Even when she was appointed party General Secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi had said that he had sent his sister to the state with a larger plan.
"She hasn't been sent here for four months, she has been sent here with a larger plan... We will not only defeat BJP in 2019 but also win 2022 elections," Rahul Gandhi had told reporters here on January 23. (With agency inputs)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2019 06:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).