Congress- Priyanka Gandhi Takes Guard

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is relying on sister Priyanka to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh.

- Soni Mishra

Congress Old - Timers in Amethi still remember the time when a young Priyanka came to the Gandhi family pocket borough with her mother Sonia in 1999. She was there to help Sonia with her debut campaign. They talk about how she ably assisted her mother and displayed a maturity beyond her years.

“Amethi ka danka, bitiya Priyanka” (Amethi’s drum, daughter Priyanka)—the slogan greeted her wherever she toured the constituency with her mother. A somewhat nervous Sonia found her rock in Priyanka as she took her electoral plunge.

Priyanka’s connection with the Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies only grew in the following years, and it was widely believed that she would inherit Amethi, which elected her father Rajiv Gandhi to the Lok Sabha four times. Instead, her brother Rahul was fielded from the constituency in the 2004 general elections. She accompanied Rahul to Amethi to introduce him to the party workers and the people.

Ever since, there has been a persistent demand for Priyanka, who is widely seen in the Congress as a natural politician and who is compared to her grandmother Indira Gandhi, to enter active politics. The demand grew louder following the Congress’s humiliating performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the party won just 44 seats.

If it was Priyanka who introduced Rahul to Amethi in 2004, 15 years later, before another Lok Sabha election, Rahul, as party president, has entrusted Priyanka with the crucial charge of winning Uttar Pradesh for the party.