Priyanka Vadra will in all probability take a direct plunge into electoral politics in the 2019 general elections from Amethi, and, as a first step, aggressively campaign across Uttar Pradesh in next year’s Assembly elections, according to top functionaries familiar with the Gandhi family’s thinking.
Now regarded as the party’s sole remaining “Brahmastra", Priyanka, 44, has so far restricted herself to campaigning in the family pocketboroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by her brother Rahul Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi respectively. She has resisted repeated entreaties over the years by Congress leaders and workers to lead the party.
But with the Congress facing what many political experts view as a crisis of survival – its strength in the Lok Sabha is at an all-time low and has seen state after state slip away from its grasp – Priyanka has all but decided to take a more active political role, the sources said.
A large part of her decision is also personal. The BJP’s relentless attacks on her husband Robert Vadra accusing him of financial wrongdoings have also forced her to decide to take the plunge, the sources added.
Several options are being worked out for Priyanka's more expansive political role, which is expected to complement her brother Rahul’s taking charge of the Congress party’s reins.
One option is to use her extensively for campaigning across Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Prashant Kishor, the one-time Modi political strategist now engaged by the Congress to manage its campaign in UP and Punjab, has even suggested that Priyanka should be projected as the party’s face in UP.
The thinking now is that Priyanka could contest from Amethi, the Lok Sabha seat represented by her brother Rahul, who could shift to Rae Bareli. It is felt that she would be better poised to take on the BJP’s likely candidate, Human Resources Minister Smriti Irani.
Between the Gandhi siblings, Priyanka has always been seen as the more aggressive and combative of the two, a trait that will come in handy while taking on the feisty Irani. Also, having a woman take on another will be politically prudent too, sparing Rahul Gandhi the risk of getting bogged down in a campaign in which he will have to tread very carefully.
A more active role by Priyanka, Congress insiders believe, will help cement the family’s primacy in the party and energise the rank and file, most of whom have greater faith in her pugnaciousness than her brother. Her resemblance to her late grandmother and Congress icon Indira Gandhi, especially on the stump when she dresses up in cotton sarees, has been cited by many as a big perception asset.
Until now, Priyanka, a psychology graduate from Delhi’s Jesus & Mary College, has only campaigned for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, taking care of their constituencies while they travelled across the country as the party’s star campaigners. A mother of two, she has always held that she prefers to bring up her children and look after the family than get into active politics.
Priyanka has in the past too demonstrated pugnaciousness and an ability to take the battle into her opponents’ camps. When her mother was attacked for being an Italian in the 2004 elections, she retaliated by saying men are scared of women of substance
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