Cong pins hope on Priyanka for Phulpur, Prayagraj seats

The historic seat of Phulpur once served as a gateway for the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Indian parliament. So is Prayagraj, which also sent Nehru to the Parliament.

A stronghold of the Congress party for the first two decades after getting Independence, the constituency has since then mostly shuffled between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Prayagraj, another parliamentary constituency, shares a similar narrative. Once recognised as the fortresses of the Congress party, the two seats held the privilege of being represented by the likes of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Jawaharlal Nehru, and VP Singh.

"Phulpur seat was the first VVIP seat of the country owing to the fact that the first Prime Minister of the country fought from here in first three general elections," says Abhay Awasthi, former chief of Prayagraj Congress unit.

"The seat holds relevance also because of the fact that the concept of opposition emerged from here. Jawaharlal Nehru himself invited socialist Ram Manohar Lohia to contest against him from Phulpur to promote the spirit of democracy," he adds.

Last month, Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra kicked-off her three-day long 'Ganga Yatra' from Prayagraj. The campaign was followed by the news reports that Congress could field Priyanka from this historic seat.

In one of her tweets before the campaign, Priyanka had shared a photo of the room at the famous Swaraj Bhawan where her grandmother Indira Gandhi was born.

It remains a matter of opinion whether the Congress is able to revive its past glory in Prayagraj.