Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi campaigning for UP assembly election 2022.
Highlights
- Congress managed to win just two seats in UP election 2022
- Priyanka Gandhi headed Congress' campaign in UP
- This was the first time that Priyanka spearheaded a state poll campaign for the Congress
Congress UP results 2022: For the Congress, it was the same old story as results of Assembly elections in five states were announced on Thursday, March 10. The party suffered a humiliating defeat in Punjab, where is was in power and could bag just two seats in Uttar Pradesh, where the campaign was headed by Priyanka Gandhi. The Congress had won seven seats in 2017 when it contested in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.
ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2022: FULL COVERAGE
While Rahul Gandhi had failed to revive Congress' fortunes after repeated attempts both at the national level and in various states, Priyanka Gandhi, who spearheaded an election campaign for the first time for her party, failed too. The UP debacle has proved that the brother-sister duo is no match to the election machinery of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
'Brand' Rahul, Priyanka's losing shine
While loyalists within the party are still afraid of pinning the blame on Rahul or Priyanka for the poor show in the just concluded assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab, the G-23 (group of senior leaders who have been demanding an overhaul of the Congress) is likely to question the party leadership again.
ALSO READ: Mayawati's BSP fades in UP: Is this the end of Dalit politics in north India?
Priyanka Gandhi launched 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' campaign in UP to lift her party. Her rallies, roadshows garnered huge crowds but that didn't tranform into votes for the Congress. The credibility of Rahul, Priyanka must be questioned. The party has lost a series of elections, however, the Gandhis appear to care little.
If ever it was time for the Congress to go for a complete revamp with a new leadership, it is now. The grand old party is at the threshhold of losing 'national' tag to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founded in 2012.
'Accepting defeat' will not do
"Humbly accept the people's verdict. Best wishes to those who have won the mandate. My gratitude to all Congress workers and volunteers for their hard work and dedication. We will learn from this and keep working for the interests of the people of India," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet on Thursday (March 10) as the trends started to pour in showing Congress' crushing defeat.
One wonders how many more election debacles it would need for Rahul Gandhi to do something more than accepting the defeat 'humbly'?
As far as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is concerned, she may have raised important issues related to women safety, unemployment, she failed to to make them click with voters.
Road ahead for Priyanka
The Congress must develop regional satraps. The party should have encouraged leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and Sachin Pilot and projected them as a new leadership but failed to do so, news agency quoted Manindra Nath Thakur, an associate professor in Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Political Studies, as saying.
"If they think only these two people can mobilise people, I don't think that they can do that. Two people cannot connect with every force on the ground. Congress of earlier days had satraps, they were active and they were loyal to the leadership. Even in BJP you see satraps," Thakur said, citing the example of Yogi Adityanath and Vasudhara Raje.
