'RAHUL KEEPING PRIYANKA AWAY FROM ORGANISATIONAL MATTERS'

After the recent reshuffle in the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was given a top position in the organisation, but without any responsibility.

- BADAR BASHIR

This decision has started discussion in the party that Rahul Gandhi wants to keep his sister away from organisational matters.

Sources claim that Priyanka had asserted, in the recently held Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, that the people who are helming important positions in the party should not be replaced or changed, as there is little time left for the Lok Sabha elections and the change could impact the performance of the party. Yet, the following day a reconstituted list of leaders was announced, indicating that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may have had little impact in the formation of the list. A CWC member stated, “The way things happened, it seems as if she was not taken on board during the formation of the list.”

Some party insiders think that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s personal assistant Sandeep Singh, was unofficially helming Congress’ Uttar Pradesh affairs, and was the source of information for her. She was the party general secretary in charge of the state. They claim that she was functioning on the advice of Singh. A party insider said, “Multiple problems were created by the leaders in UP. First, they fought on all the seats in the Assembly elections, spent a huge sum of money but ended up with a lower vote percentage. After that, an overwhelming chunk of the rank and file was dissatisfied with Singh’s functioning as there were several allegations against him. Even after that there was no action against him.”