Lucknow: AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra participates in a women's march on the occasion of International Women's Day, in Lucknow, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (PTI Photo/Nand Kumar)
Lucknow, March 8 (PTI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appears to have shed maximum sweat among top leaders for over the last 45 days for the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh assembly elections campaign.
Despite the exit polls not making a very comfortable prediction for the grand old party, Priyanka Gandhi held the maximum number of 209 rallies and roadshows during the electioneering starting mid-January to enhance her party's poll prospects.
And if the number of rallies held by a party and its leaders is any indication of their efforts, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath almost matched Priyanka Gandhi's electoral efforts by holding 203 rallies and roadshows.
Information collected from various party offices on their leaders' electioneering schedules, Priyanka Gandhi held 209 rallies and roadshows, closely followed by Adityanath's 203.
During the high-octane battle for UP, Chief Minister Adityanath crisscrossed the state holding 203 rallies and roadshows to help the party retain power.
As the opposition's face for the chief ministerial candidate, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav held 131 of them for the candidates of his party and pro-poll partners in different parts of the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah too spent a good amount of time addressing a large number of election rallies and holding roadshows to add an edge to the party's punchline "aayenge to Yogi hi" (Yogi alone will come back).
Notwithstanding his busy schedule, Modi addressed 28 rallies and roadshows during the seven-phase polling in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.
The PM even spent a night in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi and ended his campaign with a rally in Khajuri village of the district before the electioneering ended for the final phase on March 5.
Amit Shah, the master strategist of the 2017 BJP victory in UP, held 54 rallies and roadshows in favour of the BJP and NDA candidates across the state.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Lucknow held 43 rallies and roadshows during the gruelling campaigning for over 45-days.
BJP president J P Nadda held 41 election rallies and roadshows in UP.
BSP supremo Mayawati, whose absence on the ground before elections triggered speculation of her party being out of the race, stepped out and addressed 18 rallies and roadshows in the state to keep her party's hopes alive in the polls.
As Priyanka Gandhi led her party from the front in a bid to regain its lost ground, her efforts were supplemented only by a virtual rally by her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi who addressed just virtual rally for her party candidates fighting the polls from various assembly segments under her Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli.
She did not physically hit the ground for her party candidates anywhere in the state.
Former Congress president and Priyanka Gandhi's brother Rahul Gandhi too made only a guest appearance addressing barely two rallies -- one in Amethi and another in Varanasi.
Following its time-tested strategy of intensive and extensive electioneering, the BJP fielded a large number of its central and state leaders to drive home Prime Minister Modi's catchline "UP plus Yogi bahut hai upyogi" (Yogi is very useful for UP) among people in the state .
Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Shah and BJP president Nadda initially divided time among the five poll-bound states -- UP, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
But after the voting was over in other states, they all concentrated on Uttar Pradesh and virtually tried to cover every nook and corner of the most populous state to mobilize support for the saffron party and its allies -- Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD Party.
Among the state leaders, besides Yogi, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, party's OBC face in the state and another DyCM Dinesh Sharma moved around the state to impress upon the people that continuation of BJP government was needed for furthering the development of the state.
Akhilesh Yadav, who ran the show for his party and also his allies, virtually sought to match the efforts of the BJP star campaigners.
At the receiving end of PM Modi and other top leaders, Akhilesh Yadav sought to repulse their attacks with unfailing regularity.
RLD president Jayant Chaudhary accompanied him in the initial two stages of the polling in the constituencies falling in western Uttar Pradesh where it enjoys support among farmers and Jats.
As the elections moved towards purvanchal, allies Om Prakash Rajbhar and others chipped in.
Ailing SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav too showed up for the SP at two places -- one in Karhal in support of his son Akhilesh and another in Malihani in Jaunpur to seek vote for Lucky Yadav, son of his close associate for a long time Parasnath Yadav.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee too addressed a rally in Varanasi in support of the SP candidate, tweaking her West Bengal battle cry "khela hobe (game is on) to "khela hoga" (game will take place) in the Hindi heartland.
With the end of the voting, all eyes are now set on results on March 10 in UP along with that in Punjab, Uttrakhand, Goa and Manipur.
