NEW DELHI: A 100-plus seat tally that will produce a fractured mandate, a Rs 400 crore campaign budget, a 500-strong strategy team, 200 rallies by Rahul Gandhi , a clearly defined and leading role for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and creating and leading a Bihar-like grand alliance – that’s the essence of Prashant Kishor ’s revival plan for Congress in the 403-seat UP assembly elections.Kishor, a professional poll strategist who’s worked with BJP and JD(U), was given the job of reviving Congress in UP around a month ago. ET spoke to a dozen people in Congress leadership and those closely working with Kishor to get a sense of the party’s UP plan. Kishor refused to participate in the story. Senior Congress leaders spoke to ET on the condition they not be identified.Congress leaders familiar with Kishor’s thinking and his interactions with the party’s upper echelon told ET that his argument from the very beginning has been that the party can’t be fuzzy about Priyanka’s role.“Working in Amethi and Raebareli (Nehru-Gandhis’ Lok Sabha seats) and helping her brother won’t cut it…that’s Prashant’s point”, a key member of Kishor’s outfit, Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), said. “Congress needs a game-changer in UP and Priyanka can potentially be one…she can help fashion a political narrative”. Congress won just 28 seats in UP’s 2012 elections, and came fourth after SP, BSP and BJP. Rahul Gandhi had heavily campaigned in UP in 2012.A senior Congress functionary said “Kishor must be expecting Priyanka to be projected as CM candidate…but that seems difficult”. This leader said he agrees with Kishor’s plan that Congress needs a game-changer in UP. “But what is that game-changer is a million-dollar question”.He elaborated: “Kishor reckons Priyanka should play some role – act as a catalyst. But what is that role, UP Congress chief or general secretary in charge of the state…and when is it formalised? Also, can the party afford to use this card at this stage? That is something we need to reflect on. We have to be 100% sure that by sending Priyanka, our seats will cross a 100 or we can form the government in UP. Congress will have to think very deeply.”Kishor’s UP strategy, those familiar with his thinking said, also focusses on another nationally prominent Congressowman – ex-Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. He has approached Diskhit to play a “prominent role” in UP and his logic is based partly on community calculation. Dikshit is a Khatri who married a Brahmin, two key communities in UP politics.Kishor and Dikshit have met, Congress leaders told ET. He thinks her record as Delhi CM will help. But whether she’s a possible CM candidate is a question complicated by her age and her ability/willingness to take on gruelling poll duties.Kishor also wants Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid , Jitin Prasad and RPN Singh, who usually play national roles, to contest UP assembly polls, a Congress strategist said. The logic being that this will increase commitment levels of prominent Congress leaders from UP.All of this plus a hugely upgraded poll communications platform, and a Congress-led alliance with JD(U), RJD, RLD, Aapna Dal and others will aim to get 100 seats for the Congress-led group. People close to Kishor said he has good relations with many non-Congress, non-BJP parties and may be better suited at stitching up an alliance than some Congress heavyweights.Kishor’s aim is to “make sure the verdict is hung, which is likely to happen if our group gets 100-plus seats, then Congress becomes a key player”, a senior party leader said. “Badi Baat Karni Padegi (We need to talk big stuff),” is Kishor’s message to Congress leadership, an IPAC member said.Kishor wants to give a “crisp and clear message to people in UP” with regionspecific slogans and tailor-made campaigns for each of UP’s distinct regions, an IPAC member said.Congress leaders said he’s planning to deploy 500 people on the party’s communication effort for UP. Teams will be working out of Delhi and UP. A Congress leader said Kishor “is unimpressed with communication and social media teams of Congress”. “He thinks Congress messaging is not up to the mark”.Congress incidentally has fewer Twitter followers than not just BJP but also AAP. IPAC may take over communication and social media for Congress. “We have to change our conventional style as our adversary BJP is strong there,” a party leader said.Kishor also wants Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to take the message across extensively and intensely – around 200 rallies, and structuring Gandhi’s comments to “to set the political narrative straight”.And Congress has to put money where its messaging is – the indication to the party leadership is that Congress may need to spend around `400 crore in UP - given that BJP could be spending more than that, a leader privy to the deliberations said.“Prashant has indicated that Congress will have to spend close to Rs 400 crores for UP alone given that BJP will be spending far more than that. He has also offered to raise part of that amount using his extensive network,” a leader privy to deliberations within the party said.Kishor, some Congress leaders said, has in many ways made a good beginning. They said he has better relations with some key small party players than either Congress general secretary in charge of UP, Madhusudan Mistry, or state unit president, Nirmal Khatri.“The cadre in UP is very enthused by him and apart from Mistry and Khatri there is no real opposition to his ideas in the party. Bas log yehi chahte hain ki 27 saal ka Congress ka vanvaas UP main ab khatam ho jaye,” a top Congress leader from the state said.Also, these same leaders said, Congress’s top leadership is fully backing Kishor. Rahul Gandhi’s key aide K Raju is smoothening Kishor’s foray in the party, one leader said. Party seniors have good things to say about him, noting his corrdination and quick response skills, and also his attention to small details. But things are never simple in Indian politics.Kishor is careful to not upset the old guard, another leader said, adding that veteran leaders, if riled, can prove to major irritants for the professional strategist. Kishor also has to contend with Mistry and Khatri, both of whom, UP Congress leaders said, have reservations about some of Kishor’s ideas.Congress also has its own strategic views on UP. A senior Congress leader, a veteran of many poll campaigns, summed up the party view: BSP has the edge, SP is behind despite CM Akhilesh Yadav having done well recently, BJP has no card but polarisation, Congress is handicapped by a lack of grassroots organisation. Kishor, clearly, will have to work with and work around Congress strategists, some of whom think Congress has a tough job breaking into UP’s caste-votes matrix.IPAC strategists said Kishor will be visiting each UP district starting April and questionnaires have been sent to all district units in UP to get feedback on caste politics locally. “A clear caste strategy will emerge after these exercises,” an IPAC staffer said.But some Congress leaders wonder whether Kishor has too much on his plate. A senior UP Congress leader said he doubts if Kishor will have a wide role in UP that extends to candidate selection. “I think he will have a wider role in Punjab for Congress where elections are before UP. Handling both states, Kishor has bitten more than he can chew. He has a reputation to protect - we can win Punjab but only improve in UP,” the leader told ET. I-PAC strategists however said Kishor saw “UP as his main challenge and will not hold anything back to win UP.”Some leaders doubt if Punjab will be relatively easy. A senior Congress strategist said Punjab will be a major challenge for Congress. “Though we have a face in Punjab, Amarinder Singh , AAP’s graph is rising there...that party could be the spoiler, especially for urban votes Congress lost in 2012 and needs to win back”, this leader said.One Congress leader said Kishor has a conflict of interest in that he’s managing elections for Congress while being an advisor (with cabinet minister status) to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. An IPAC senior staffer, however, argued that Kishor was employed by the Bihar government, not by another political party, and he pointed out that Congress was part of the Bihar government.Against all this is the fact of Nehru-Gandhis backing Kishor. Congress leaders, with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in attendance, held a strategy meeting on UP polls a full year before state elections. “That’s unprecedented and shows how important Kishor is,” a senior leader said. He added that Congress is feeling more hopeful now. “We are talking 70 seats, 100 seats… that’s something,” he said.