Lucknow, Aug 8 (HS): With the 2027 UP Assembly elections

approaching, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi is working on a

three-pronged strategy to expand the Congress' footprint in the politically

critical state: establish a new youth constituency, revive the party's

organizational machinery, and secure a Samajwadi Party alliance before

seat-sharing negotiations become contentious.

BID TO CONVERT STUDENT OUTREACH INTO VOTES: Rahul Gandhi

will deliver the third edition of his 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' program in Prayagraj,

a move that the Congress considers noteworthy given the city's historical and

emotional ties to the Gandhi family. According to a party source, Prayagraj was

picked above other locations due in part to its close links to the Nehru-Gandhi

family. Anand Bhawan, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's family house,

served as the Congress office throughout the liberation movement until being

presented to the Indian government by Indira Gandhi in 1970.

Within Congress, there is growing perception that Rahul

Gandhi's increasingly public interventions on student problems, both in

Parliament and on the streets, are helping the party connect with Generation Z

and young voters. According to internal party input, a large number of young

people from Uttar Pradesh took part in student demonstrations at Jantar Mantar.

This is emerging as a constituency Rahul Gandhi may want to lure into the

Congress fold ahead of the 2027 elections. Congress officials in Uttar Pradesh

are also pressing for an early finalisation of the party's seat-sharing

agreement with the Samajwadi Party. According to party sources, during a

meeting organized by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi at 10 Janpath on Tuesday,

Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh asked the leadership to finalize the

seat-sharing deal with the Samajwadi Party as soon as possible.

All six Lok Sabha MPs from the state attended the

conference, as did Rajya Sabha MPs Imran Pratapgarhi, Pramod Tiwari, and Rajiv

Shukla. By August 20, a coordination committee between the SP and Congress

should be announced, allowing seat-sharing discussions to be completed on

schedule. Any further delay will only harm the Congress' electoral

prospects in Uttar Pradesh, one of the MPs who attended the discussion

said.

While Rahul Gandhi and SP president Akhilesh Yadav get along

well, second-tier leaders in both parties have been publicly feuding over the

seat-sharing arrangement. Meanwhile, Congress leadership has recognized that

any delay might exacerbate misunderstanding and hostility within the

partnership, especially when officials from both sides make contradictory

pronouncements.

The Congress is striving to create its own organizational

structure in Uttar Pradesh rather than relying on the SP's apparatus. Party

officials think that a strong organization in Uttar Pradesh is critical not

just for the 2027 Assembly elections, but also for the Congress' overall

electoral objectives ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. In a recent

organizational reshuffle, the Congress named Rajinder Pal Gautam, a former AAP

Delhi minister and major Ambedkarite politician, as its Uttar Pradesh

in-charge. According to a party source, Gautam has been charged with increasing

the Congress's outreach to Dalit voters, especially as the Bahujan Samaj Party

and Mayawati's electoral power has eroded in recent Assembly and Lok Sabha

elections.

The party has also changed its AICC secretaries in Uttar

Pradesh. Pradeep Narwal, Dheeraj Gurjar, and Tauqir Alam, who were seen as

close to Priyanka Gandhi, have been replaced with Abhishek Dutt, Kunal

Chaudhary, Jagdish Chandra Jangid, Sanjeev Arya, Varun Chaudhary, and Abdul

Hannan. A group of Congress lawmakers feels the makeover has been due for some

time and might breathe new life into the party's organizational infrastructure.

The Congress sees Uttar Pradesh as a vital test of whether it can turn its

victories from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections into a sustainable political

presence. Leaders hope that restoring the party's autonomous organizational

foundation in the state will improve its negotiating power within the INDIA bloc

and provide a stronger platform for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi