NEW DELHI: Ending years of fevered speculation, Gandhi family scion Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally entered politics on Wednesday with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointing her as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, which also comprises Lok Sabha seats of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Signalling the Congress’ intent to go full throttle in the state ahead of the high-stakes general elections, Priyanka’s appointment immediately became a point of political debate with leaders of Congress and its allies welcoming it saying she will be a “great success” for the party while the BJP dubbed her entry into active politics “as an admission by the Congress that its president Rahul Gandhi has failed in providing leadership”.
Priyanka will take over her new assignment from the first week of February, a statement from the party said. The 47-year-old will assist her brother, Rahul, in the Hindi heartland state, which was the party’s stronghold till the mid- 1980s.
“I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, she is very capable,” Rahul said, adding “we won’t play on the back foot, we will play on the front foot, be it Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh.”
“I feel this decision will help initiate new thought in UP and will bring a positive change in UP politics,” he told reporters in Amethi.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Rahul Gandhi has opted for family “crutches” after facing rejection from other opposition parties.
Party workers speculated that Priyanka may contest the polls from her mother Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli. Many in the Congress said her entry will infuse the much-needed fresh energy in the party workers of the state, where Congress influence has been waning over the years
and where the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have announced a tie-up.
Congress leaders also feel that Priyanka will help draw crowds, especially the youth and bring back the upper castes and minority votes to the Congress fold. This, the party leaders feel, may also force the SP-BSP combine to work in tandem with a “rechristened” Congress.
Asserting that he had no animosity against the SP and the BSP, Rahul Gandhi said, “wherever we can work together to defeat the BJP we will…but our work is to create place for the Congress and for which we have taken a big step.” Rahul Gandhi also appointed senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia as AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh West. Party leaders said the responsibility for the state’s 80 seats have been roughly divided 40-40 between Scindia and Priyanka Gandhi. (PTI)
