Asserting that the Congress would "play on the front foot" in Uttar Pradesh, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Monday he and his party would not sit idle till it forms a government in the state and that Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia had been given that mandate.

During a four-and-a-half-hour roadshow that marked his sister Priyanka's first public event after being appointed as the party's general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Congress president said he had told her and Scindia, the general secretary in charge of western UP, their mandate was to bring a government in the state that would ensure justice for all.

CNBC-TV18 spoke with Priyanka Chaturvedi, spokesperson, Congress; Vinod Sharma, political editor, Hindustan Times; Manisha Priyam, senior academic and political analyst and Gopal Krishna Agarwal, spokesperson, BJP, to understand the Congress party's turnaround plan for UP as they clearly have a mammoth task ahead.

Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "I am certain that both Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia are not shying away from the difficulty as well as accepting the responsibility for a state which Congress believes needs better governance, needs better days and needs progress."

Vinod Sharma said, "Priyanka has been given charge of eastern UP for the simple reason that there the demographic mix is basically of Dalits, Muslims and Brahmins and that was the traditional support base of the Congress party."

"However in my view, it could be a double-edged weapon, it could cut either way both into Muslim and Dalits and also into Brahmins," Sharma said.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal said, "If Congress has a game plan or blueprint they should have shown it to the people. People don't know what is their vision. People in the country and the state don't know about their plan."