New Delhi, Jan 23: The successful conclusion of the alliance with SP saw Congress on Sunday heralding the "political launch" of Priyanka Gandhi, openly crediting her with clinching the coalition that had seemed to be on the rocks. Till now, Priyanka was often spoken of in party circles as managing the back-end operations of brother Rahul's political office and overseeing affairs in the home boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli. It was Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who put out the all important tweet, "It is wrong to suggest that lightweights were dealing on behalf of Congress party. Discussion was at highest level between CM of UP, general secretary in charge of state affairs (Ghulam Nabi Azad) and Priyanka Gandhi."
Significantly, Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi's confidant, did not mention Rahul, Congress's heir apparent, as having played an active role in stitching the alliance with the SP. Many felt it could be the family's way of signalling Priyanka's growing political profile as reports had filtered out of her text messages to CM Akhilesh Yadav. Priyanka has been taking a significant interest in UP matters, often sitting in on party discussions and sometimes meeting leaders at her residence.
The challenge posed by the Modi government to Congress and dispiriting electoral performances after the 2014 Lok Sabha defeat have convinced many in the party that she must take up a more active and interventionist role. Political strategist Prashant Kishor, working on the Congress campaigns in UP and Punjab, pushed for an extensive campaign that, however, did not pass muster with party bosses. In the Gandhi family's carefully crafted division of work between the siblings, it marks a breaching of boundaries between Priyanka's official and informal political engagement, which started in 1999 with managing the elections in Rae Bareli and Amethi.
She had also campaigned with Sonia Gandhi in the Bellary election. Party circles were of the view that developments over the week marked her entry into politics. Priyanka's growing footprint in Congress affairs became a subject of public discussion around July last year when the party began drawing the roadmap for Uttar Pradesh elections. It came out that she was a key protagonist in the planning process and information started trickling out about her meetings with Azad and other leaders involved in the campaign plan. But as Congress trimmed its ambitions and began looking at a tie-up with SP, Priyanka is said to have switched gears to focus on seat-sharing rather than considering campaigning. It is now known that Priyanka, along with Rahul, were in touch with UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and even other smaller players like RLD scion Jayant Chaudhary.
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