Cong VP Rahul Gandhi loaded with poll agendas post vacation

New Delhi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who flew abroad on June 20, a day after he turned 46, has a long list of agendas that were waiting his return from the vacation. Rahul met the state Congress presidents from seven states - Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat to chalk out the programme.

UPA Government had passed the Forest Rights Act for the tribals across the seven states but it has not been effectively implemented till date.

Congress lacking poll preparations in UP

• Congress is going slow in the poll preparations in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2017 assembly elections as compared to opposition parties
• Congress has been politically fragmented in UP
• Congress will replace Nirmal Khattri with a new state President
• Political strategies are uncertain among the party due to the inclusion of poll strategist Prashant Kishor
• Prashant has already presented his report card over the responsibilities to be delivered to Priyanka Gandhi for the upcoming UP elections
• But it is yet uncertain when the plans would be executed in the state

Congress wants seat sharing with BSP in UP

• A small section inside the Congress party wants Bihar like seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
• Congress is of a belief that Mayawati’s BSP has turned feeble on various points in the state
• Rahul Gandhi will have to pioneer in this regard as SP and BJP are a major challenge for Congress and BSP in the state
• Mayawati played a crucial role in benefitting Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttarakhand in Uttar Pradesh. This apparently hinted closeness among both the parties

Rahul Gandhi isn’t a free-hand leader

• Congress President and Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi has not given a free hand to Rahul Gandhi on various party issues
• It was Sonia who took the decision of making Ghulam Nabi Azad as the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh for the Congress party
• Sources say that Rahul Gandhi has been asked by his advisors to take charge as the party President
• It is possible that such decisions might be taken in the Congress party