After Smriti Irani’s boisterous bid in Parliament, there is speculation that she may be one of the contenders for the party’s chief ministerial face in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections. Sources say Amit Shah’s army is likely to see a reshuffle in the second week of March. This, as the Congress too is absorbed in putting its house in order before the big battle for UP.
After huge successes in Gujrat in 2014 and then Bihar in 2015, master poll strategist and public health professional, Prashant Kishor, has now been roped in by the Congress to manage the party’s 2017 UP campaign.
Also read: Congress Brings in Prashant Kishor to Spearhead 2017 UP Elections
‘Prashant Kishor Is No Magician and UP Is No Bihar’
UP is no Bihar. Unlike Bihar, uniting anti-BJP sentiment is not a possibility in UP. The caste quagmire, class denominations and communal polarisation have made UP, in the words of senior journalist Paronjoy Guha Thakurta, an ‘independent country with a politics of its own’.
The political climate in UP is not like Bihar 2015. Even with 20% of the vote share in 2014, the BSP didn’t end up winning even one seat, that’s UP. And let’s not speculate about Priyanka Gandhi until it happens.Paronjoy Guha Thakurta, Editor, EPW
Well Congress has not been a major player in UP and Prashant Kishor is not a magician. But if Priyanka Gandhi agrees to lead the campaign, then she will certainly be an asset.Shahid Siddiqui, Former Rajya Sabha Member
The Priyanka Proposition. Will She, Won’t She?
The Congress cadre chanting slogans eulogizing Priyanaka (“Priyanka lao, Congress bachao”) is ritual, and Kishor’s entry has only fueled more speculation. Navbharat Times carried a story that the Congress is going to declare its chief ministerial candidate for UP soon. Unmistakably, the cover photo showed Kishor and Priyanka Gandhi.
If Prashant Kishor wants to be the turnaround man for the Congress, he will rope in Priyanka Gandhi. But then Robert Vadra would be a straw in the wind. There are bigger parties in UP and more emotional voters, the coefficients are very different, just the right slogans and social media messages will not cut it, it needs a face.Nalini Singh, senior journalist and political commentator
Priyanka Not Politics-Ready
Come campaign, all too familiar parallels are drawn between Indira Gandhi and granddaughter Priyanka. Political pundits call her the crowd puller and repeatedly exclaim about how her charisma trumps Rahul’s. Despite the speculation and the praise, time and time again, Priyanka has stuck to a firm no.
Prashant Has His Ways, But Congress?
Post the big Bihar win, a lot was said about Kishor’s unique style of functioning. Kishor is believed to demand direct access to the top boss and no less. He lived out of Modi’s house Gandhinagar in 2014 and then out of Nitish’s house in Patna in 2015. But for the 2017 UP campaign, Kishor and his team are going to be working from the party’s existing set-up at Gurdwara Rakabganj Road. Kishor had been earlier approached by Mamata Bannerjee and also by the Gogoi’s, but he declined. So there isn’t a market price that guarantees Kishor’s services; he has a mind of his own. Sources say that he will report directly to Rahul Gandhi and is likely to alter existing party structures. Known to be a top heavy bureaucratic party, for now, the Congress may be happy to have managed to get Kishor on board, but can they toe his line of functioning?
Prashant Kishor’s is the only credible independent political consultancy going and it is no secret that everyone is vying for him. But the Congress is a complex party, there are no single-window clearances, the manoeuvrability is much less than that within the JDU & BJP.Sankarshan Thakur, Roving Editor, The Telegraph
(Sources within the Congress have refused to come on record with an official comment, saying that it is too early.)
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