Her campaign this time won't be limited to Amethi and Rae Bareli, says state party chief.
If the fervor, frenzy and euphoria witnessed at the grand reception Congressmen mounted for their new Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar at Lucknow on Sunday were to be converted into votes in the 2017 assembly election, the Congress would win UP hands down. The cine actor donned the hugely challenging mantle of UP Congress chief like a real hero. But, victory against the likes of Mayawati and Mulayam with a 78-year-old Sheila Dixit by his side, seems a far far cry.
For the first time in years, the lumbering Congress behemoth seemed to have stirred out of its inertia. The scene at the airport, with hundreds of vehicles and swathes of party workers, must have overwhelmed Raj Babbar who climbed on top of a bus to wave out and thank them.
"I salute all the party workers. I am one of you. The party and all of us (leaders) are because of you," he told a huge gathering of Congressmen at the party office later. "Our mission is to deliver UP from 27 years of misrule," he said referring to the period Congress has been out of power in the state.
It took more than four hours for his carcade to reach the party office from the airport, a distance normally covered in half an hour, because of the rousing receptions he got at almost every crossing en route.
The enthusiasm among partymen took on a feverish pitch as Babbar dropped broad hints that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would campaign throughout UP in this election. Many were in fact surprised when he thanked only Priyanka for his appointment as UP president, though it's been an open secret and quite a buzz within party circles.
Even at a press conference later, he clearly hinted that Priyanka's campaign this time would not be limited to Amethi and Rae Bareli as it has been earlier, though he didn't spell it out despite persistent questioning by the media. "No one would be able to stop the Congress when Priyanka ji comes," was all he said.
While the party's chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit was also there at the head of the procession on a bedecked vehicle, it was Raj Babbar who stole the show all along.
At his press conference, Babbar fired loaded salvos at the BJP, BSP and SP. "One party has a dozen leaders from one family who rule from the gram pradhan to the top," he said taking a jibe at the Samajwadi Party.
"Another party has a leader who was 'tadipaar'," he said of BJP state chief Keshav Maurya. He rapped the BSP saying: "The party formed for Dalits' welfare became corrupt and has been exposed."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Priyanka Gandhi")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}