Priyanka enters active politics, Rahul names sister Congress gen secy of UP East

Aditi Tandon 
Tribune News Service 
New Delhi, January 23

After years of speculation around her entry into politics, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday took the plunge when her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi named her party general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (East).

Priyanka will assume her new role from February.

The significant announcement came this morning soon after Rahul Gandhi reached his parliamentary segment Amethi post his return from the UAE trip.

The development opens the doors for Priyanka Gandhi to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from a family stronghold in UP amid talks that she may succeed her mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli.

Priyanka Gandhi just turned 47 on January 12 and had been actively involved in the party affairs in UP along with the former AICC general secretary in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad who was rested from UP today and shifted as general secretary in Haryana.

Along with Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul also named his friend and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia the AICC general secretary in-charge of UP (West).

In other reshuffles, Gandhi replaced Ashok Gehlot as party general secretary organisation after Gehlot took over as Rajasthan CM.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s entry to politics has remained mired in speculation for years with the party always maintaining it is up to her to join politics when she chooses.

Priyanka is already the top political adviser to her brother and was with him in the recent meetings to finalise CM candidates in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh after the Congress won the three states.

Earlier, she was instrumental in talks that led to the entry of Manpreet Badal and Navjot Sidhu into the Congress.

Priyanka Gandhi is married to Robert Vadra, who is facing ED heat for a range of cases.

Moments after the appointment, Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra posted a congratulations on his Facebook, saying “Congratulations P...always by your side in every phase of life. Give it your best.”

For long, it was believed in the Congress circles that Priyanka’s entry into politics was delayed due to the legal baggage of her husband.

Priyanka follows a familiar path in the Congress politics taking after her brother who too had his first role as Congress general secretary in-charge of frontal organisations. Parallel to his organisational role in the Congress, Rahul Gandhi also contested from Amethi Lok Sabha segment in 2004. He has since held on to Amethi.

With Priyanka’s appointment in AICC, there’s active speculation in the Congress that she may be the party’s next pick for Rae Bareli, which Sonia Gandhi has represented since 2004 after she vacated Amethi for her son.

The presence of the Gandhi brother and sister duo in AICC politics is set to reignite the BJP charge of the reign of dynastic politics in the Congress.