Congress 'Purva Pramukh' brigade to challenge BJP’s 'Panna Pramukhs' in Amethi

Lucknow: The Congress is now trying hard to reclaim its lost legacy in Amethi, even though it is not clear if Rahul Gandhi will seek re-election from here.

The party has set up a brigade of ‘Purva Pramukhs’ to take on the BJP’s ‘Panna Pramukhs’ who have proved to be a key contributor to BJP’s victory in various elections since 2014.

In RSS-BJP, each panna pramukh is appointed to reach out to all voters on one page of the electoral roll. They are delegated the responsibility to stay connected with the voters in villages and cities on behalf of their party at all times of the year and encourage them to go out and vote.

While they do not urge voters to press the button of the EVM for their party, their presence is both a direct and inadvertent reminder of the cause of their existence.

The Purva Pramukh, on the other hand, are a largely rural entity who have been delegated the similar responsibility at the village or cluster level.

Their job is to reinforce the Congress ideology in the present generation of voters, remind the middle rung voters about what all Rahul Gandhi had done for them as their MP and rekindle ties with old timers.

In addition, they are to form a committee of 11 members to cover at least 11 households in each unit.

Former Congress MLC Deepak Singh, who has been leading the group of Purva Pramukhs said that in the past three months, over 8,600 purva prabharis have been appointed across 876 villages of 17 blocks that make up the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.