Why aren't Priyanka, Rahul campaigning elsewhere?

While Rahul is concentrating on his seat Amethi, Priyanka has hardly moved out of Rae Bareli — leaving Cong workers flummoxed.

The Congress party is Uttar Pradesh has one big question in its mind these days -- why are Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi not campaigning anywhere in the state apart from traditional bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

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Given their charm in attracting new voters, party workers are flummoxed that the young Gandhis are not being used to pitch the party in what is one of its toughest poll states.

Asked, the Gandhis have one staple answer.

"For the moment, I am focused on Amethi because that is my goal. But yes, if the party wants me to do anything else, I will," Rahul Gandhi tells party activists. Priyanka says pretty much the same.

Debuting this year from Amethi, which has voted the Congress to the Lok Sabha 10 times, including five times for a Gandhi, Rahul's victory is as certain as the win of his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's from another stronghold, neighbouring Rae Baraeli.

That's why party workers and opponents are curious that the Gandhi children, especially its biggest crowd-puller Priyanka, are not being used in other parts of the state where the Congress faces a huge uphill battle against the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Most party workers had expected Priyanka to plunge into battle against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow.

"When (lawyer) Ram Jethmalani expressed his desire to pull out of the contest, it was the best opportunity to field Priyanka, who could have given Vajpayee a run for his money," a senior Congress functionary said wishfully.

He said Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh and Salman Khurshid had pitched the idea to the party high command but "they filed a political upstart like Akhilesh Das, a pygmy before Vajpayee's stature".

Jethmalani since then has re-entered the race against Vajpayee.

"We have virtually given Vajpayee a walk-over by fielding Das. In 1999, we had a much better choice in Karan Singh, who could bring Vajpayee's winning margin down by 100,000 votes," said a Congress worker.

"If the Congress had fielded Priyanka, she could have not only given Vajpayee tough fight but could have also defeated him. That would have been a devastating blow not only for the prime minister but for the entire BJP."

With the BJP on damage control mode after 22 women and children died in a stampede during a sari distribution ceremony commemorating the birthday of local BJP heavyweight Lalji Tandon, many feel Priyanka could have swept public opinion.

The Election Commission has now asked for a case to be filed against Tandon saying the saree distribution was a method of trying to bribe voters.

In Lucknow, popular opinion is with Vajpayee as a good prime minister but people are less ecstatic with his performance as their local representative.

"I think he (Vajpayee) has failed to live up to our expectations," quipped 65-year-old Sukhrani.

Added shopkeeper Jagdeo "When Vajpayee came here as an ordinary candidate, I even offered him water with my own hands. But after becoming prime minister, he has become too distant. We cannot even tell him what we expect from him."