To strengthen the party ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has decided to hold three-four meetings with party workers a week.
She will hold these meetings at Rahul Gandhi's residence every Tuesday and Thursday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
"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. The Congress General Secretary, also the in-charge for eastern UP, has met over 150 workers in the past two weeks at her as well as brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi's residence.
Even during her last week's visit to Rae Bareli along with her mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to thank voters, Priyanka Gandhi said she would meet people twice a week in the state.
But she came down heavily on workers for not working hard to ensure party candidates' victory. Priyanka Gandhi said she would review the party as well as the leaders' performance.
Priyanka Gandhi, made the party General Secretary on January 23 and given charge of 41 Lok Sabha seats in eastern UP, campaigned extensively in 26 constituencies during the general elections.
However, the Congress lost even the Gandhi family stronghold of Amethi, where party chief Gandhi was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Smriti Irani by 55,000 votes.
According to the source, the party workers who earlier didn't get appointments to meet the Gandhis could meet them now without any prior consultation. The meetings with grass-roots workers were aimed to understand the ground realities in UP, where the Congress has been out of power since 1988, he said.
Priyanka Gandhi will use the feedback to strengthen the party. Even while campaigning during the general elections, Priyanka Gandhi had asked the party workers to start preparing for the 2022 Assembly elections.
After entering active politics, Priyanka Gandhi has tried to infuse a new lease of life in the party and held marathon meetings with party workers in Lucknow in February.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, in charge of western UP, aalso held review meetings on Monday here and on Friday in Lucknow.
(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)
--IANS
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