Priyanka Gandhi
The entry of Priyanka Gandhi directly into the thick of politics this month has been the most talked about event not only in this country but globally wherever Indians and NRIs live. How devastating has the master stroke of the oldest party of the country, facing its biggest existential challenge becomes evident from the fact that when Priyanka Gandhi returned to India to fulfil the commitment she had to made to her brother Rahul Gandhi, she had to first visit the Enforcement Directorate her husband Robert Vadra had been summoned before taking charge at the AICC as General Secretary. This shows shows how nervous the ruling dispensation has become after Rahul played the trump card. However her conduct and cool during the entire episode which could have rattled any lesser mortal on the first day of her initiation in the rough and tumble of politics has shown that she is going to be a tough nut to crack. Old timers recall a striking resemblance between her and her grandmother late Indira Gandhi and journalists never fail to point this out. However she has told the media in personal intersections that it was actually her brother Rahul who is more the fighter like Indira Gandhi and that she was more like her father Rajiv Gandhi. Priyanka has been selectively and deliberately placed in the thick of the battle 2019 by giving her charge of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Eastern Uttar Pradesh which also has the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Of course it also has Gorakhpur the constituency of Yogi Adityanath the UP Chief Minister but recent by elections have shown that he is not invincible. However the long awaited entry of Priyanka Gandhi has upset not only the ruling party which has launched a vicious attack on Robert Vadra (a totally non political entity) but also some opposition parties which had written off the Congress from its calculations at least in Uttar Pradesh. Barely days before the Congress decided to launch, what it calls its Brahmashtra much to the embarrassment of Rahul Gandhi, who almost single handedly brought back the Congress to power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party and the Samajwadi Party declared that Congress had no place in its scheme of things.
Very magnanimously, Mawawati had declared that their alliance had left two seats of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi from the 80 Lok Sabha seats. She conveniently forgot that her own party had not won a single seat in the 2014 elections while the Congress had at least two. These two regional satraps had decided to divide the remaining seats on the basis of caste and where dreaming of capturing a majority of the UP seats. Voices from various regional leaders banking on Dalit votes for survival had started reverberating that Mayawati was Prime Minister stuff. However the entry of a polished and decent face in the caste ridden murky politics of Uttar Pradesh has already set alarm bells ringing among the smug opposition leaders who thought they could write off the Congress. Barely a week into Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka has left such a lightening impact on the mood of the Congress workers that now the same BSP and SP leaders have started sending feelers through their allies and friends in the media that Priyanka's entry would divide the opposition unity. In other words, they are now open to negotiations on a Mahagathbandhan with an open mind. The BJP off course is in total panic mode. The more they watch the response to the charisma of the brother sister of the Gandhi family as they travel sitting atop Roadways buses in UP like college students on a picnic as part of their campaign, the more they tighten the screws on Robert Vadra. How panicky is the ruling party can be seen from the way he is being grilled for 8 hours or in be hours continuously. We dont expect government servants to work beyond 10 to 5 and Saturdays are clearly a day off. But the Enforcement Directorate officials are grilling Vadra off as many as 8 to 10 hours and are working even on Saturdays. The nation wants to know what exactly they are trying to get out of him which will provide jobs to millions of hopefuls or whether his grilling would bring down prices of essential commodities or petrol and diesel. But all is fair in politics these days and even if it is not who can ask these questions. Both the NDA and Congress are using every tool they can to win the elections to the Lok Sabha elections due in less than two months. It is interesting to note that under attack in this cross-fire are two persons who are totally non political, Robert Vadra by the BJP and Anil Ambani by the Congress.