One sees much criticism of the Congress party for not getting its act together to fight the BJP in this parliamentary election. The party leadership is called, once again, too arrogant. The party is accused of not cooperating with other non-BJP parties to ensure one-on-one contests in each constituency while the BJP quickly stitched up its 27-strong alliance. The party is accused of giving up the battle and of instead looking to strengthening itself for future elections.

These criticisms are perhaps premature. One reality check will happen today when party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, aka PGV, begins a three-day tour in Eastern UP. She's been criticised for a lackadaisaical approach; her first press conference on February 14 had to be cancelled because of the Pulwama attack, and her only event was in Gujarat last week. Presumably, she has a chance from today to make an impact in the way that her brother, party president Rahul Gandhi, did at Stella Maris College in Chennai last week. Clips from that interaction with young ladies showed only positives: he was relaxed, unafraid of questions (unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scripted interactions; even his response on dyslexia to students seemed less than spontaneous). The Chennai crowd was thrilled as Rahul provided a refreshing counterpoint to Modi's repetitive and tiresome nastiness. The only complaint might be that there are not enough such events – but then the Election Commission has thrust upon us a two-month election, and perhaps the 'dramatis personae' are pacing themselves. How effective PGV is can be gauged by the way Modi responds: he might want to snatch the narrative back with some loud, pointed electioneering.