Priyanka Gandhi gets office at Congress headquarters in Delhi, likely to formally take charge on 10 February

Two weeks after Priyanka Gandhi was appointed general secretary of Uttar Pradesh East by the Congress, the newly-inducted leader was given an office in the party headquarters on 24, Akbar Road in New Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_5979491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Priyanka Gandhi. Reuters[/caption] Priyanka met party chief Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Delhi’s Tughlaq Lane on Monday after returning from abroad on Monday. She also met Congress in-charge for Uttar Pradesh West Jyotiraditya Scindia and senior leaders Raj Babbar and KC Venugopal to discuss the election strategy for the state. Priyanka carries a heavy burden on her shoulders as she heads charge of 43 of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, where the party registered a dismal performance in the 2014 general elections, garnering only 8.4 percent of the votes. During this meeting, prominent leaders were telephoned to take an update on the welfare works in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As per ANI, after Priyanka’s entry, the party is reworking its original plan of holding 13 rallies in the state and has also proposed holding rallies in the Dalit majority seats. She will also be a part of a meeting of All India Congress Committee general secretaries and in-charges of various states in Delhi on 7 February.

Delhi: Nameplate of #PriyankaGandhiVadra being put up outside the room allotted to her at Congress Headquarters. She has been appointed as the General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. pic.twitter.com/u4WaqkUFkJ

— ANI (@ANI) February 5, 2019

Priyanka’s entry into the Eastern UP region gets her into competition with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, whose constituencies Varanasi and Gorakhpur respectively lie in the region. Questions on the difficulty she will face in reviving Congress in the most populous state on India also surfaced last month when the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in the state announced contesting from 38 seats each, leaving only Amethi and Raebareli for the national party. Priyanka is likely to formally take charge of her post after she and Rahul take a dip in the Sangam on 10 February. The two will then address a joint press conference likely to be held in Lucknow, a News18 report said.