Priyanka veers towards LS contest

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20

As Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed three AICC secretaries each for western and eastern Uttar Pradesh, he made it clear that the party was gearing to play big in the largest state.

This is the first time the Congress has appointed six organisational secretaries in UP, after the major January appointments of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia as the AICC general secretaries in charge of eastern and western UP.

With the party ready for an all-out fight after the BSP-SP snub in the state, there’s “growing pressure” on Priyanka to contest the LS elections. Though there is no official confirmation yet on whether she will fight, Congress insiders say there’s an increasing possibility that she will.

In any case, Priyanka has several seats to choose from. The Gandhi family seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli are already available and currently represented in the Lok Sabha by Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. Another seat which could be on the table should Priyanka contest is Phulpur, the segment her great grandfather and first PM Jawaharlal Nehru represented till he was alive and after that the late PM’s sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit got elected from the seat.

Sources say Priyanka could also look at Lucknow, traditionally a Congress seat having been represented by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and later Sheila Kaul before the seat went the BJP way starting 1991 and was represented by the late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and later BJP veteran Lalji Tandon. The sitting Lucknow MP is Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Congress feels Priyanka’s entry into election fray will send a larger political message and create a potential pro-Congress wave if the party plays its cards strategically.

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that the Congress could replace UP chief Raj Babbar and appoint two separate presidents for east and west zone attached with Priyanka and Scindia, respectively. The hunt for faces is on.

Amid alliance talks, Rajbhar meets Shah 

• After Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the BJP is preparing for contours of an alliance of the all-important UP that sends 80 members to the LS
• Sources say the sulking Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief, OP Rajbhar, on Tuesday met BJP chief Amit Shah to pitch for his place in the alliance
• “All in place, alliance contours for Uttar Pradesh will also be announced soon,” said BJP leaders in know of the developments