Congress leaders are helming the party’s planning for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, and not political strategist and campaign manager Prashant Kishor, asserted Dr. Sanjay Sinh, the Congress’ campaign chief for the crucial Assembly polls coming up next year.
Mr. Kishor’s team would only guide the party on how to fight the elections on the ground — what goes into slogans and banners — but the “political planning, concept and strategy is totally done by the Congress party and its leaders,” Dr. Sinh said.
‘No factionalism’ The “difference in opinion” among its top leadership in the State “does not mean we cannot sit together,” Dr. Sinh added, brushing aside reports of factionalism and infighting that have plagued the Congress in U.P.
Interestingly, once a close aide of Sanjay Gandhi, Dr. Sinh switched over to the BJP and contested against Sonia Gandhi in 1999, only to return to the grand old party later. Amid renewed speculations of his growing proximity to the BJP two years ago, he was nominated from the Upper House from Assam.
As the Congress, led by its Chief Ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit, gets set to launch yatras, worker meets and rallies in 66 districts of U.P, Dr. Sinh (64), spoke to The Hindu on a range of issues related to how the party hopes to regain the trust of voters in a state where it is today a marginal player.
Sign of growing appeal A member of the royal family of Amethi, he argues that the “tremendous” crowd generated by Sonia Gandhi in road show in Varanasi, and the attendance of 84,000 party workers for an interactive session by Rahul Gandhi in Lucknow recently, should be read as signs of the Congress’ growing appeal.
‘A mass-based party’ Observers believe the party faces the tricky task of boosting the morale of its cadre while also sorting out the power games of its intra-state satraps. Dr. Sinh, however, insists that the Congress is not a cadre-based but a “mass-based party”. When it starts gathering crowds, it’s indication that the party will form the government, he claimed: “The masses come, we form government. The masses go and we lose power. The masses are ready for us this time.”
However, crowds don’t always translate into votes, which has been true for the Congress in recent elections.
Dr. Sinh, however, believes the people of U.P. will produce a “miracle” next year, and traces Indira Gandhi’s comeback win after the Emergency as proof that tides can change quickly enough. The Emergency was ridiculed by the countrymen. Indira Gandhi lost the elections in 1977. Then in 1980, how did she come back with a thumping majority? This is the beauty of democracy—that is how the people take decisions. That is how the people will bring the Congress to power today. People are talking that only the Congress is capable of ruling,” Mr. Sinh said.
