New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will not contest the coming Lok Sabha elections and will focus on the party’s campaign, said agencies and television reports quoting sources amid a buzz that she could be the Congress challenger against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi.
“In order to concentrate on the campaign and her new responsibility as general secretary, she will not be contesting in this election,” said television reports quoting Congress sources.
They added that she would play “an active role and help her mother and brother in their constituencies as well as help other congress candidates in the state”.
Ms Vadra has been helping her brother and party president Rahul Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi in their constituencies Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh for more than a decade.
After the Congress announced that she would join politics and appointed her as general secretary incharge of East Uttar Pradesh along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was given the responsibility for West UP, there was intense speculation that she would contest polls.
All talk about her taking over Rae Bareli from mother Sonia Gandhi, who has been unwell for a while, was cast aside when the Congress announced its first list of 15 candidates earlier this month, naming Mrs Gandhi. The list confirmed that UPA chairperson is not retiring just yet.
Ms Vadra, 47, has held several meetings with party workers in UP since her formal entry into politics last month. She delivered her first speech anywhere outside the Gandhi family strongholds on Tuesday as she addressed a rally in Ahmedabad in Gujarat after attending a Congress Working Committee meeting.
