During the meeting held by the AICC to review the preparations in UP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the state party leaders flagged two major concerns before the central leadership. One, they expressed their desire to see active presence of the Gandhi family members in UP like in the past.

Two, they expressed their apprehension about the party getting a “decent share” of seats out of its expected alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state, anticipating hard bargaining with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in the wake of the Congress’s recent debacle in three Hindi heartland states.

UP Congress sources said some of the state leaders also requested the participation of Rahul or Priyanka in their UP Jodo Yatra, which is to start from December 20. The central leadership told them that it would look into their request.

The perceived distancing of Rahul and Priyanka from the UP party affairs for months seems to have led to some concern in the minds of the state party leaders that they are expected to manage and steer the campaign for the 2024 polls on their own.

For decades, UP had been the cornerstone of the Congress’s national politics with the Gandhi family members either contesting or leading various poll campaigns in the state.

Not just Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi also chose UP to contest polls, starting from the Amethi parliamentary constituency in 1999. Rahul began contesting from Amethi since 2004.

Later, Rahul also started playing a key role in the party’s campaigning for the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in UP. His “Khaat Sabhas” were held across the state ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls, when the party had joined hands with the SP. Their alliance was trounced by the BJP.

Although ex-Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was brought in UP as a Brahmin face to lead the Congress for 2017 polls, the party then aligned with the SP, which led to the campaign revolving around Rahul and Akhilesh.

Since 2019, Priyanka became active in the UP party affairs, by first taking charge of Eastern UP as the AICC general secretary and then of the entire state. She spearheaded the party’s campaign for the 2022 Assembly polls, which was centred on the “Ladki hun, lad sakti hun” theme. The party was however again routed in the polls.

For several months, Rahul or Priyanka has not been seen in any party events in UP. In January this year, Rahul had made an appearance in UP when his Bharat Jodo Yatra had briefly crossed through the state.

Sources said that during the AICC review meeting Rahul said there was a lack of “self-motivated leaders” to lead the party in UP. He cited the case of Telangana, saying the party unit worked hard there to fuel its return to power despite not having been in the reckoning for long.

“When the meeting was about to end, Rahul ji rightly said that the problem in Uttar Pradesh was that there were not even three leaders with the ambition and self-motivation to become CM and work in that direction. He cited example of Telangana and said there were four leaders there who wanted to become CM and worked hard for it, and party workers prepared ground which led to victory,” he said.

Another Congress leader said while every party member wants the Gandhi family members to spearhead the party’s campaign in UP, they are not sure how active they would be in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Several leaders said Muslims are looking towards Congress in this election but party would have to ensure strong candidates on strong seats and that it gets them from SP in their alliance. While some thought they could align with BSP they were told there was no dialogue with them. Different issues came up, but everyone was of the opinion that party should bargain hard and get not just respectable share but also strong seats,” a party leader said.

Sources said the signal the UP Congress leaders got from the AICC leaders was that they should spearhead the campaign in the state with the central leaders pitching in like in other states.