After Rahul, Priyanka too, being readied to enter active politics

Anil Narendra

Is the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi trying to steer clear of her Rae Bareilly parliamentary constituency or she is preparing grounds for her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s plunge into active politics in view of adverse political environment and the weak organizational structure in Uttar Pradesh,? This questioned has cropped up because Sonia Gandhi has been entrusting the care-taker responsibility of Rae Bareilly constituency to daughter Priyanka. May be, deteriorating health is forcing Sonia Gandhi to take such a decision. Whatever may the reason, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, by accepting the responsibility for Rae Bareilly, has clearly indicated her intentions to enter politics in near future. It can also mean that the Rahul’s demand and popularity graph is increasingly showing a downward trend and Congress workers’ expects more from Priyanka than Rajiv? Priyanka has started meeting people and party workers in Rae Bareilly. The position of Congress in Rae Bareilly has also been a cause of concern. In the recently held Assembly elections, the Congress, not only lost all the Assembly seats from Rae Bareilly, but barring one, none of its candidates, could reach even the runner-up status. Keeping the dwindling public support, Sonia has asked Priynka to hold janta darbar in Delhi to interact with people from Rae Bareilly and also directed her to tour the area to get first hand information about their problems and sufferings. This could possibly be the preparation for launching Priyanka in the next general elections. In that case, Sonia could either abandon the Rae Bareilly seat in 2014 and may not fight elections from there or may contest from Bellary seat in Karnataka. If everything goes as per the decided strategy, then Sonia Gandhi may leave everything to his son Rahul and daughter Priyanka and renounce the electoral politics? She could often participate in publicity campaigns or could formally continue providing guidance to the Party. According to the sources close to Sonia Gandhi, she is considering it the right time to say goodbye to politics and she wants to keep clear of it with dignity rather than leave politics as a defeated warrior. If Party and the family pressurize her, she may fight elections from Bellary in Karnataka in Southern India to strengthen the Party.  The path for Priyanka too, is not smooth, as has been demonstrated by the results of recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the performance of the Congress was not up to the mark. In spite of active participation of Priyanka in the Assembly election campaign, the Congress could not get desired results in Rae Bareilly and not even in Amethi, Rahul’s parliamentary constituency, which clearly shows that even her efforts are not going to help much. Thus, entrusting Priyanka with the responsibility for Rae Bareilly and preparing her to take a plunge into active politics can only strengthen the belief that the magic of Nehru-Gandhi family is on the wane and Sonia is well aware of it.