Priyanka Gandhi appeals via audio message, Congress reaches out to 60 lakh voters

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday released an audio message requesting people to join her in creating a new culture of politics in the country. 

In the audio message, she said that she would be visiting Lucknow on Monday and would appreciate if people could join her in this process. A similar 30-second-long audio recording was released for Jyotiraditya Scindia in Western Uttar Pradesh. 

The audio clip for both the leaders targeted around 60 lakh voters in Uttar Pradesh. The outreach was divided into 30 lakh messages in Western and Eastern Uttar Pradesh respectively.

Praveen Chakravarthy, an economist by profession, who heads Congress' data department said, "Congress has done multiple surveys in Uttar Pradesh and found joblessness as a major issue in the context of elections and quota for the economically weaker sections amongst the upper castes. BJP is facing double anti-incumbency in Uttar Pradesh”. 

Chakravarthy also said that both Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have come on top of the anger index in the context of expectation from the government. He also confirmed that the Congress has already done a survey across Uttar Pradesh on who deserves to get a ticket from the party in the state.

Priyanka Gandhi would kickstart her day on Monday with a massive roadshow which would take her from the Lucknow airport to areas like Hazratganj, Alam Bagh, Lal Bagh, ultimately concluding at Nehru Bhawan. 

Officially, the roadshow is expected to last 6 hours in the city but can extend due to the presence of workers who have poured into the state capital from all across. It is expected that Priyanka Gandhi would give a maiden speech at Lal Bagh.

Such is the enthusiasm for the preparations for Priyanka Gandhi's Lucknow show, it has already generated a lot of excitement in the party local unit as well.

What Priyanka Gandhi intends to do in the next four days is also very unique in the context of the finalization of the tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Priyanka Gandhi has decided to conduct closed-door meetings for three days with former MPS, MLAs, city presidents, party office bearers, district heads and panchayat chairmen. Interestingly, she has divided all her meetings as per the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The closed-door meetings will allow no coverage. Priyanka would take feedback on the right candidate for the Lok Sabha constituency.

Sources in the party said that Priyanka Gandhi would select Lok Sabha candidates across Uttar Pradesh on the basis of the feedback received from the meetings. Priyanka Gandhi is expected to launch a district-wise exercise any day after February 18.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be accompanied by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary in-charge of Western UP, Jyotiraditya Scindia. Rahul Gandhi will leave for Delhi on February 11 while Priyanka Gandhi would stay put till February 14.