Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the latest Gandhi family member to make a poll debut

Five years after formally joining politics in 2019, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be contesting the bye-election to the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat vacated by her brother Rahul Gandhi

Considered as one of the most charismatic Congress leaders, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the latest member of the Gandhi-Nehru family to make an electoral debut.

Five years after formally joining politics in 2019, Ms Vadra will be contesting the bye-election to the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, a seat vacated by her brother and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

After winning both Wayanad in Kerala and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gandhi had decided to retain Rae Bareli.

“The people of Wayanad hold a special place in my heart, and I can’t imagine a better representative for them than my sister, @priyankagandhi. I’m confident she will be a passionate champion of Wayanad’s needs and a powerful voice in Parliament,” Mr Gandhi said in a post on X on Tuesday.

“Join us tomorrow, October 23, as she files her nomination for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. Together, let’s ensure Wayanad continues to be represented with love,” he added.

Though Ms Vadra has electoral fray, two decades after her brother first contested and won the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, she isn’t a complete stranger to electoral politics. Since 1999, Ms Vadra has had rich experience of managing her mother, Sonia Gandhi’s constituencies of Amethi in 1999 and Rae Bareli since 2004.

Her formal entry into politics was months before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as the Congress was looking to change its electoral fortunes that had seen its lowest tally of 44 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.

Inducted directly into the Congress Working Committee, she was made in-charge of eastern UP. However, the party couldn’t translate her charisma into seats and even Mr Gandhi lost his Amethi seat to BJP’s Smriti Irani.

Ms Vadra tried reviving the party organisation and ran a high pitched Ladki hoon ladh sakti hoon [I am a hurl and I can fight]  campaign for the 2022 Assembly elections. Despite the hype, the campaign didn’t get them through votes.

However, over the years Ms Vadra has emerged as a key strategist and one of the most sought after  star campaigners. 

Often compared with grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her close resemblance, Ms Vadra has been projected as challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi. 

She was also considered as a successor to her mother’s former Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.

That’s why when the Congress announced her candidature from the Wayanad parliamentary seat, BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh targeted her for looking to win from a safe seat. 

“I am very happy to be able to represent Wayanad. All I will say is that I will not let them feel his [Rahul Gandhi’s] absence. I will work hard and try my best to make everybody happy and be a good representative,” Ms Vadra had said in June when the party had named her as a candidate for the first time.

“I have a good relationship with Rae Bareli as I worked there for 20 years and that relationship will never break,” she had added.

Published - October 22, 2024 07:17 pm IST