Akhilesh ‘missed’ Priyanka Gandhi in poll rallies; clueless about her ‘disappearance’

Akhilesh Yadav invited Priyanka Gandhi to attend roadshows in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh recently.

Lucknow, March 9: It is not just the voters of Uttar Pradesh, but incumbent state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav too 'missed' Priyanka Gandhi during the month-long campaign trail.

Speaking to Scroll, Akhilesh said he would have been happy if she had come. "I sent the message to her through the Congress inviting her to join the roadshow in Varanasi. But the Congress declined. I don't know what happened internally (for them to take this decision)."

In fact, Priyanka was the main brain behind forging an alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party to fight a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in the state assembly polls.

Before the starting of the UP election campaign, news was rife that Priyanka would extensively campaign across the state for the SP-Congress alliance. However, it never happened.

Her posters were seen in several parts of the state. However, when the actual campaign begun, she attended only one rally in Raebareli, which is also the parliamentary seat of her mother Sonia Gandhi. The 45-year-old made her appearance at the election meeting after union minister Smriti Irani took a jibe at her for skipping campaigning to avoid public queries.

As expected, Priyanka decided to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi in her address to the voters. During her short speech at the rally, Priyanka urged the voters that the state did not need to adopt an 'outsider' (PM Modi). Till now, nobody knows why Priyanka did not campaign for the SP-Congress alliance in the state. Is it to avoid 'overshadowing' her brother and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi?

OneIndia News