Why ‘much sought after’ Priyanka Gandhi is missing from UP poll campaigning

There are several reasons behind Priyanka Gandhi remaining away from campaigning in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Lucknow, Feb 17: Everybody wants a slice of charismatic Priyanka Gandhi in the high-stake Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, literally. It's not just Congress party workers; even the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is 'badly' missing Priyanka. Recently, BJP leader and union minister, Smriti Irani, said Priyanka was not campaigning because she had no answer for the tough questions which the voters would ask her.

Finally, reports say Priyanka is joining the Uttar Pradesh campaign trail on Friday. Priyanka and her brother and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will address a rally in Rae Bareli, the parliamentary seat held by their mother Sonia Gandhi.

Reasons behind Priyanka skipping campaigning in Uttar Pradesh

In the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Priyanka was seen actively campaigning across the state. In fact, she was the only person who boldly replied back to all the allegations labelled against the Congress and its leaders by the BJP. It was not Rahul, Sonia or any other senior Congress leader, but Priyanka who dared to take on BJP's star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, immediately after Congress' defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Priyanka almost shut herself out from public life. This assembly election season, we first heard about her when reports emerged that it was because of Priyanka's negotiation skills that sealed the alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for the UP polls.

If on one hand, party workers in the ground want Priyanka to be actively involved in UP poll process, the senior Congress leaders maintain that she is working 'behind the scenes' and 'micro-managing' things for the party and her brother.
State Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Priyanka is playing an important role and she knows about all constituencies in the state, something which I don't even know."

Political experts say assembly elections in the five states are very crucial for Rahul's political career. If the Congress-SP alliance manages to win the UP polls then that will catapult Rahul's fortune. That is why Priyanka does not want to steal Rahul's thunder.

Moreover, the Congress has always been very protective about the Gandhi family. The party will not like to use its 'best' card (read Priyanka) extensively for assembly elections. As few poll pundits suggest, may be, the Congress is saving Priyanka and her charisma for the next Lok Sabha elections slated in 2019.

OneIndia News