Priyanka enters active politics as Cong gen sec; creates political ripples

Ending years of fevered speculation, Gandhi family scion Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally entered politics on Wednesday with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointing her as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, which also comprises Lok Sabha seats of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Signalling the Congress' intent to go full throttle in the state ahead of the high-stakes general elections, Priyanka's appointment immediately became a point of political debate with leaders of Congress and its allies welcoming it saying she will be a "great success" for the party while the BJP dubbed her entry into active politics "as an admission by the Congress that its president Rahul Gandhi has failed in providing leadership".

Priyanka will take over her new assignment from the first week of February, a statement from the party said. The 47-year-old will assist her brother, Rahul, in the Hindi heartland state, which was party's stronghold till the mid 1980s.

"I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, she is very capable," Rahul said, adding "we won't play on the back foot, we will play on the front foot, be it Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh."
Asserting that he had no animosity against the SP and the BSP, Rahul Gandhi said, "wherever we can work together to defeat the BJP we will...but our work is to create place for the Congress and for which we have taken a big step."