Barely four days after the then Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray, died on November 17, 2012, Priyanka Chaturvedi, who had been elevated to the panel of spokespersons of the Congress, wrote a blog which was extremely critical of the right-wing leader.
But as things stand, Chaturvedi now has joined the Shiv Sena after accusing the Congress of hurting her dignity by reinstating suspended party workers who had misbehaved with her during a media interaction in Mathura recently. While the Shiv Sena may be a sharp right turn for an urbane face cultivated by the Congress on prime-time television, her own rise in the Congress is seen by many with disbelief.
A Mumbai Youth Congress leader, whose committee Chaturvedi had joined in 2012, says that she joined the Youth Congress ranks after her meeting with the late Gurudas Kamat. The former Union minister pushed her entry into the Youth Congress, arguing that the organisation needed more women. Her candidature was pushed aggressively and with Kamat’s "blessings", she was elected as general secretary of the Youth Congress of North West Mumbai.
Chaturvedi quickly gained traction in the outfit because “she wrote and articulated her thoughts very well”, the Mumbai Youth Congress leader said.
Soon she was drafted into the editorial team of Yuva Desh — the official newsletter of the Youth Congress. For a person from a non-political pedigree, this wasn’t an astronomical rise within a year of joining the party, but still fast enough.
The Youth Congress leader said: “She was not a grassroots person. Nobody recognised her on the ground. It is only after she became the face of the party on TV that she got a fair degree of recognition.”
Chaturvedi’s big break came when she caught the attention of Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha, who was himself considered an outsider in the party. Jha was a prominent face of the Congress on TV channels and social media. In 2013, Chaturvedi became part of the national media team of the Congress.
“I introduced her to Digvijay Singh. I saw her on social media and saw potential in her. She was also reasonably efficient. The objective was to inject the party with young blood” said Jha. Once Jha introduced Chaturvedi to Singh, she grabbed the attention of then Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, too.
With Jha getting her on Gandhi’s radar through Singh, Chaturvedi’s rise further accentuated. Soon she became a national spokesperson of the party. In November 2017, Gandhi appointed her convenor of the Congress’ communications department. By 2018, she was conducting interviews across India, scouting for people to induct them as spokespersons in the run-up to the national election.
On Friday, Chaturvedi’s preternatural rise in the Congress finally reached a dead end. “People work for 50 years in the Congress and do not rise in the party. Rahul Gandhi wanted to promote young people with merit which made her rise fast and unprecedented,” said a member of the Mumbai Youth Congress.
Jha said: “She has switched to a party of goons that beats up couples on Valentine’s Day and doesn’t believe in civility. Chaturvedi and Tom Vadakkan are textbook examples of political opportunism. Young people looking to join politics shouldn’t follow her example.”
But Chaturvedi's complaint was: “... despite the safety, dignity, empowerment of women being promoted by the party,... the same is not reflected in the action of some of the members of the party.” She also rubbished reports that she quit the Congress after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket.
 "How Priyanka Chaturvedi's atypical rise in Congress came to an end")
