New Delhi: On Wednesday, the Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Vadra, met party workers, but with a form in which they had to disclose their caste identities. Not just that, an avowedly secular non-casteist Congress also asked the activists to mention their sub-caste.

The Congressmen were served with the form while interacting with Vadra in Lucknow. The caste and sub-caste were asked quite up in the form while the workers were asked about their profession or form of association with the party later on towards the end.

The form also asked if the workers were active on social media and if they had Twitter handles and whether they were keyed-in on Whatsapp. The form also asked their educational qualifications.  

Vadra has been especially roped in to lend the Congress a new lease on life in the eastern part of UP where the party has done quite badly in the recent past. Despite the dynasty having its roots in eastern UP, PM Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath have come to dominate this part of the state.  Phulpur was the Lok Sabha constituency of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru while erstwhile Allahabad, now Prayagraj, is the family home of the Nehru family.
On Wednesday, Priyanka Vadra said that she was not in UP to challenge PM Modi, and that the challenger was Rahul Gandhi.
 
Vadra had kicked off her party’s bid for 2019 polls in Lucknow last Monday with a not very successful roadshow. She was accompanied by her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Meanwhile, her husband Robert Vadra is faced with relentless grilling by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Vadra faces cases pertaining to undisclosed overseas properties, which could also be connected to kickbacks in deals involving arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

She had joined her husband in Jaipur where he was grilled by ED along with his mother. She had returned from Jaipur on Tuesday night and had met party workers in a marathon 16-hour-long meet. “These things happen. I will continue to do my work and all these things do not bother me,” she said on the ED questioning.