Led by Priyanka Gandhi, how Congress is building its campaign in Rae Bareli

As Rahul Gandhi prepares to contest the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat for the first time, the Congress is building his campaign around the Nehru-Gandhi family’s 100-year connection to its pocket borough while conveying to voters that he will remain by their side — an attempt to counter the BJP’s accusation that the party disappears from the seat every time after coming to power.

The two-pronged strategy — “Sewa ke sau saal” (100 years of service) and “Rae Bareli ke Rahul” (Rae Bareli’s Rahul) — will soon be launched through publicity material and social media posts before Rahul begins his campaign here, said party sources.

Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — who is leading the campaign in the seat held for four terms by their mother Sonia — has been setting the tone for the strategy during her appearances.

Vadra, who addressed more than 25 nukkad (street corner) meetings in the past two days in Rae Bareli’s Bachhrawan and Rae Bareli Sadar Assembly segments, has repeatedly invoked the January 7, 1921 Munshiganj massacre to show how four generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family — right from Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru — have stood with the people of the constituency.

A Congress leader said: “The Nehru-Gandhi connection with Rae Bareli has been a century old, starting from the days of Moti Lal Nehru and Jawahar Lal Nehru, who stood with farmers during the 1921 massacre by the police. It was during the era of non-cooperation movement, when protesting farmers were shot and later Jawahar Lal Nehru was also arrested offering support to farmers.”

Priyanka narrated this incident during the very first party workers’ meeting in Rae Bareli for these polls. And in Bachhrawan on Wednesday, she said: “Hum aap ki pukar sun ke aye…