Congress party's poll strategist Prashant Kishor has strongly suggested that Rahul Gandhi be made the party's face in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017.

Highly placed sources in the Congress told India Today that Kishor feels the only way the party can come back to power in 2019, is if people start believing that Rahul Gandhi can lead them to victory in an election. He feels the best place to start the experiment is Uttar Pradesh.

However, if Rahul Gandhi does not agree to the proposal, Priyanka Gandhi may be made the party's face in Uttar Pradesh. In case both disagree, the poll strategist will be suggesting the name of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Sources say that Rahul Gandhi has already seen Prashant Kishor's presentation and has asked for a few days time to decide whether he is going to accept this offer.

While Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh are skeptical about projecting a face in the state elections, Kishor is apparently keen that the party should name a candidate. This is primarily because the master election strategist's campaigns are generally crafted around personalities.

This was evident in the 2012 Gujarat Assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when Kishor successfully pitched Narendra Modi as a development icon and a decisive leader through the extensive use of modern communication technologies.

From the "Chai Pe Charcha" campaign (a video conference across 1,000 tea stalls), to the 400 video vans deployed in Uttar Pradesh to take Modi's speeches to inaccessible rural areas, or the use of 3D holograms for the simultaneous projection of his speeches at 100 locations, the campaigns were all about Modi and not the BJP.

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