Priyanka on Tuesday. (PTI)

Rae Bareli, Jan. 17: Aren’t you happy to see me here, Priyanka Vadra touched a disgruntled woman’s chin and asked, and the anger of a group of 50 protesters instantly dissolved into peals of laughter.

Minutes later, Congress workers all over the state would have been smiling too. Priyanka said she was ready to campaign across Uttar Pradesh “if my brother Rahul Gandhi agrees to it”.

Priyanka has never electioneered outside Amethi and Rae Bareli except for one rally in Barabanki in 2009 that scripted a win for party candidate P.L. Punia.

“I’m open to the idea,” she said today when a reporter asked if she was willing to step out of the family pocket boroughs this time.

“I’ll do anything to help my brother. I’ll do whatever he requires me to do. He knows to what extent he requires me.”

Congress workers have been clamouring for Priyanka to campaign across the state because of her ability to quickly connect with people. An exhibition of that skill came this morning during a brief stopover by the Gandhi family member in Sultanpur Road, about 2km from here.

It had been a forced stopover. A group of 50 women blocked Priyanka’s convoy around 11.30am as she travelled from Munshiganj in Amethi to a Rae Bareli guesthouse to meet party workers.

The women were angry because the closure of Sheena Home Tex, a private carpet factory set up through the Congress’s efforts in Sonia Gandhi’s constituency, had left them and their families in dire straits since 2009.

As Priyanka got off the car, the group surrounded her. Their leader Ranjana Tiwari began describing how, for two-and-a-half years, Congress leaders had made unfulfilled promises about getting the factory reopened.

Priyanka gave her a patient hearing for about 12 minutes before cutting her short. “Now listen to me,” she said and summarised how the Congress was trying to bring in a buyer for the factory.

Then, in Ranjana’s own words, “she affectionately touched my chin and asked me if I wasn’t happy to see her here among us”.

“If you are happy to see me, why don’t you flash a smile for me?” Priyanka asked her, sending the thirty-something woman into a fit of giggles.

A guffaw broke out from the other women, who began chorusing: “Priyanka Gandhi zindabad.”

Party workers hope that’s exactly the effect Priyanka would have on voters elsewhere too. Sources said the Congress campaign committee was under pressure to have her widen her area of campaign, especially because Sonia Gandhi’s schedule has been restricted by poor health.

Priyanka said: “Till now, I’m here to oversee the 10 constituencies that fall in Amethi and Rae Bareli. Then my brother and I will sit together and decide.”

Before leaving, she told reporters: “There’s a private factory here which has not been functioning for two years. The gentleman who owns it does not want to run it. It’s election time, so I’m not supposed to make promises. But we have been working for the last two years to solve this crisis. Somebody else should come here, take it over and run it.”

Ranjana said the factory had opened in 2007 and closed down two years later. “We had spoken to other leaders but no one else gave us such a patient hearing. We always believed Priyanka was someone we could fall back on. She made us all smile.”