Priyanka Gandhi resorts to caste-politics; asks party workers to specify their caste, sub-caste

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra began a series of meetings with party workers after returning from Jaipur, where she had gone for her husband Robert Vadra’s deposition in alleged Bikaner Land Scam case.

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New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who was expected to bring a change in the traditional political scenario in the party, has herself resorted to an old pattern of politics. Gandhi, who is on mission Uttar Pradesh has been continuously holding meeting with party workers. Amid these meetings, a fresh revelation has come out that every worker who comes to meet Priyanka is being handed over a form, which has a column of caste and sub-caste. Besides this, the party workers are also being asked about their presence of social media like Twitter and Whatsapp; and about their position in the party. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra began a series of meetings with party workers after returning from Jaipur, where she had gone for her husband Robert Vadra’s deposition in alleged Bikaner Land Scam case. These meetings ended at 5 am on Thursday and lasted for over 15 hours.  Vadra held meetings with at least 12 Lok Sabha party leaders separately. Both General Secretaries will hold meetings with party workers from 12 Lok Sabha seats on Thursday as well. East Uttar Pradesh’s Congress Chief is on a 4-day Lucknow visit. As per party sources, she held meetings with senior leaders from 12 Lok Sabha constituencies including Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Sitapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Behraich, Phulpur and Ayodhya. When asked by reporters about a `muqabla' (contest) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the newly appointed AICC office bearer  said, "Kar to rahe hein Rahulji, Modiji se muqabla (Rahul Gandhi is already taking on Modi)." She also played down the questioning of her husband Robert Vadra by the Enforcement Directorate in Jaipur, in connection with an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. "These things will keep on happening, I am doing my own work," she said. On her marathon meeting with party workers, Priyanka Gandhi said she is happy to see the enthusiasm among them. "I am learning a lot about the organisation and how it is structured. I am getting views on how to fight the elections," she said. Forty-one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in the state have been placed under her charge and the remaining 39 under Jyotiraditya Scindia.Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia were appointed AICC general secretaries for UP east and UP west respectively in January and took charge last week. Among the constituencies placed under Priyanka Gandhi's charge are the key seats of Lucknow, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Phulpur, Allahabad, Barabanki, and Kushinagar. Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Pilibhit, Dhaurahra, Kanpur and Farrukhabad are some of the key constituencies in Scindia's charge. Later, in the day, representatives of a pensioners' association met her, asking for the revival of a pension scheme replaced with a new one under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Ajay Kumar Bandhu, who heads the National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS), said the employees are against the new scheme under which a part of the funds is invested in stocks. Bandhu caimed Priyanka Gandhi assured the delegation that the old pension system will be implemented if the Congress is voted to power.