New Delhi :
Congress general secretory Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections from her mother Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Raebareli. The reports hold significance as the UPA chairperson has indicated in the past that she will soon retire from politics.
Priyanka, who is known to have had a say in formalising election strategies and candidates' list of the party in previous elections, has been given the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh east. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath enjoys considerable influence in the region. The Prime Minister was elected last time from Varanasi and Gorakhpur is considered Adityanath's stronghold. However, the BJP had lost the bypoll which was necessitated after Adityanath vacated the Lok Sabha seat after being appointed the Chief Minister of the state.
She will be taking charge of the new responsibility from the first week of February.
In the Congress circles, the appointment is being seen as a masterstroke that will infuse energy in party workers in a state where its influence has been waning over the years.
However, the Bhartiya Janata Party took a dig at the Congress for appointing Priyanka as the general secretary saying that appointment is an admission that in the Gandhi family ‘the dependence on Rahul is over’.
The development comes after Samajwadi Party announced an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the state and kept the Congress out of the pre-election pact. However, both the parties have announced that they will not put up candidates in Amethi – Lok Sabha constituency of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Rae Bareli – Sonia Gandhi’s Lok Sabha constituency.
"This is an opportunity for the Congress to strike back in the most crucial state of the country where the organisation had all through been wanting her to plunge into active politics," Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi said.
Winning Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, is vital for any party that plans to capture power at the Centre.
But the Congress has failed to perform in Uttar Pradesh ever since 1989 and with the latest SP-BSP alliance, the party has come under pressure. In its best performance since 1989, the Congress won 21 Lok Sabha seats in 2009 but dropped to just two seats of Sonia and Rahul Gandhis in 2014.
