Lok Sabha poll 2014: Congress top guns plan strategy ahead of Lok Sabha elections
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:53
Lok Sabha poll 2014: Congress top guns plan strategy ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the crucial one-day Congress session later this month, the First Family of the party is planning its role in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi's ascendancy as the prime ministerial candidate, Priyanka Gandhi's candidature and campaign strategy seem to have come up for discussion.
While news channels reported that Priyanka had refused to contest the 2014 polls, no Congress leader is ready to talk about what transpired behind the closed doors. A strategy session of senior Congress leaders at party vice president Rahul Gandhi's Tughlaq Lane residence on Tuesday morning fuelled speculation of a complete rejig at the top echelons of Congress.
What added weight to the buzz was Priyanka's presence at the meeting. While senior leaders maintained that Priyanka had been active in advising Rahul and looking after party affairs in his and their mother's Lok Sabha constituencies, her brief interaction with the top leaders has made partymen speculate if she would step into active organisational work to ease the burden on Sonia Gandhi. Rahul's projection as the PM candidate at the January 17 Congress meet looks imminent.
SONIA GANDHI WILL PLAY A KEY ROLE
A section in Congress wants Rahul to follow his grandmother Indira Gandhi's example of taking an all-powerful dual role of Congress president and prime ministerial candidate. However, compulsion of coalition politics is unlikely to see Congress President Sonia Gandhi take a backseat. A senior party general secretary told ET, "Sonia-ji has run a coalition successfully for 10 years. She is the only acceptable leader for allies and Congress. It is unlikely that she would step back from this role." Priyanka has maintained that she would not contest the 2014 elections.
A senior leader said, "It is unlikely that she would contest. Rahul-ji would be our clear leader. Priyanka-ji is expected to campaign extensively this time, especially because Sonia-ji would not be able to give much time due to health reasons."
The top leadership was absolutely tightlipped about the meeting with all leaders denying any knowledge of the interaction. Congress general secretaries Madhusudan Mistry and Ajay Maken even denied that such a meeting had taken place.
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi refused to comment on it, merely saying, "Priyanka Gandhi is a member of an important political family. She might not be seen as playing an active role in politics, but she has been an active member of the Indian National Congress. She has been looking after Amethi and Rae Barelli constituencies. She has her own political views. She has been interacting with political workers.
If she has spoken to senior leaders about certain issues, it is not surprising. What is new in it?" Sources indicated that Priyanka briefly interacted with all leaders, discussing the campaign programme of Sonia and Rahul in the run-up to the elections. Priyanka also discussed the progress of specific schemes and programmes in the family's boroughs. source:economicstimes