Even as clamour for the projection of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as party’s PM nominee is growing by the day, his sister Priyanka’s presence in a meeting of top Congress office-bearers at Rahul’s residence has fuelled speculation that she will take an active role in the election campaign since the Congress V-P has not been able to change the fortune of the party.
According to party sources, the meeting, chaired briefly by Priyanka, discussed whether Rahul should be nominated party’s PM candidate in view of adverse political situation. Though the Congress sought to downplay the presence of Priyanka in the meeting, nobody on record confirmed whether Rahul attended the meeting. Rahul returned from abroad on Tuesday morning.
Sonia’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, AICC general secretaries Janardhan Dwivedi, Ajay Maken, Madhusudan Mistry, and Union Minister Jairam Ramesh were present when Priyanka entered the meeting venue. While the meeting lasted for an hour, Priyanka was there for less than 10 minutes. “Priyanka Gandhi is a member of an important political family and a Congress member. Though she is not seen in active politics, she gives her opinion on matters of importance,” said AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.
Other sources said that Priyanka discussed the tour programme of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. When asked whether there was a discussion that Priyanka may be fielded as party’s PM candidate, a senior Congress leader dismissed it as “wildest” speculation. Priyanka has so far confined her politics to
campaign in Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Raebareli and occasional visits to Rahul’s constituency. However, the source added if Priyanka became active in party affairs it would boost the party amidst rising popularity of BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi. A section of office-bearers also raised a ‘feel good factor’ point as ‘the last time India saw a PM from Gandhi-Nehru family was almost 30 years ago’.
Sources said that Priyanka may be given a big responsibility to monitor the election war room of which senior leaders P Chidambaram, Sushilkumar Shinde, Salman Khurshid, Renuka Chowdhury, Ahmed Patel, Janardan Dwivedi, Manish Tewari and Jyotiraditya Scindia are members. Priyanka’s active role in national politics has always been a point of discussion ever since the demise of her father and PM Rajiv Gandhi.
Another round of speculation gained momentum when Sonia Gandhi underwent a major surgery in 2011 and some party leaders claimed that Priyanka will contest from Rae Bareli. This was followed by yet another controversy when Congress workers installed posters inviting Priyanka to contest elections from Allahabad.
The meeting also discussed the AICC resolution to be placed before the CWC on January 16. The Resolution Drafting Committee is being headed by AK Antony, with Sushilkumar Shinde, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, P Chidambaram and Anand Sharma as its members. Sources said a new team of spokespersons may be chosen to highlight Congress's feat like RTI, lokpal, Food Security laws.