Grassroots restructuring, social media connect was high on Priyanka Gandhi's agenda

LUCKNOW: For four days, as Priyanka Gandhi confined herself to the first-floor room of the

UP Congress headquarters in Lucknow

, she looked anything but worn-out.

From replying to questions from Congress workers from 41 constituencies, to listening to their demands that she take the mantle from her mother in Rae Bareli to posing with them for a mandatory group photo, she eased into conversations.

Posing tricky questions on booth numbers and victory margins to members, she also asked them, with a smile, their favourite Congress leader and their qualities. "If I have to look at 40-plus seats and channel positive energies into votes, I can't contest and pin myself. We must win as a team," she told a party worker from Banda.

Taking notes in her binder and occasionally on her laptop and cellphone, she met nearly 1,000 people everyday, working for hours at a stretch.

"There were 4,000 of them, spread over four days and five nights. With each group, her energy level remained consistent," UP Congress president Raj Babbar told TOI. "I am trying to understand the organisation and how it is structured and things that need to be changed," she said in her address to reporters at 5.30am, setting the tone for what lies ahead. Workers from Deoria, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Maharajganj said Priyanka was outraged by stories of social atrocities on young girls and boys in villages as much as she was intrigued by the non-availability of doctors or hospitals to deal with cases of spurious liquor or malnutrition. She directed workers to join WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram and insisted on holding chaupal meetings in their village campaigns. A WhatsApp number was circulated to form an e-chaupal. Priyanka also reserved time for potato farmers, teachers' unions, defence personnel and medical teams. She insisted each to bring representatives during poll rallies on the stage and speak with their candidate. "This excited all of us," said Abhishek Raj from Sitapur. "Farmers were excited to meet her and talk about Indira Gandhi's 'garibi hatao' slogan.


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