Priyanka Vadra and politics are not new to each other. However, she has been more of a caretaker for the Gandhi family — nurturing Amethi and Raebareli for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi for years. As a child, Priyanka had also accompanied her father Rajiv Gandhi when he travelled to his constituency. In fact, Rajiv Gandhi had once admitted in an interview that of all of them, it was Priyanka who had the instinct of a politician.
The caretaker is now taking the plunge as a full-fledged politician as she gears up to file her nomination for the Wayanad bypoll on Wednesday.
Each time the Congress and Rahul Gandhi performed poorly in his initial days as a neta, there was a clamour for Priyanka Vadra to take charge. However, she stood her ground, saying she had a family to look after. Despite this, each time her mother and brother contested polls, Priyanka was the first to camp and campaign in Amethi and Raebareli.
Many reasons have been attributed to Priyanka Vadra’s decision of staying away from taking a plunge. One, she was savvier than her brother and while he waited to emerge as a politician, Priyanka had to wait in the shadows — lest she overshadowed him. Two, the many controversies attached to her husband Robert Vadra made sections in the Congress fear that the dust would settle on her.
However, it was tough to keep the firebrand Priyanka Vadra down for long. She fiercely defended her husband and happily declared that she would live in the shadows of her boss and brother Rahul Gandhi. Eventually, she joined active politics in 2019 when she became general secretary in-charge of UP. While she may not have turned the fortunes of her party in the state, Priyanka Vadra the campaigner had emerged. She was also the trouble-shooter, as was seen in the Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan crises.
So, what does her electoral debut bring to the table? To begin with, the circle of Gandhis is complete in Parliament and together with her brother, Priyanka Vadra will be the voice to take on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With family heir Rahul Gandhi representing UP and North, and Priyanka Vadra holding fort in the South, the calculation is that the two regions are taken care of.
But with this debut comes the peril of yet another Gandhi-centric power centre in the Congress. For long, many Grand Old Party leaders were confused and made to run from Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi for their demands. Will the entry of another Gandhi add to the confusion?
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