PRIYANKA: You have me to reckon with
Those who thought Priyanka Gandhi was a babe in the woods were in for a surprise on Wednesday.
Not only she took charge of her new political office but by personally dropping husband Robert Vadra at the Enforcement Directorate office, where he was questioned in connection with a money laundering case, she seemed to be making a strong political statement.
The words, on the face of it, were innocuous: ‘‘I stand by my family’’. But embedded in it were the portents of what lies ahead – she is spoiling for a fight and is daring the BJP to do its worst. So, the underlying message was: You have to reckon with me, from now on. She admitted as much when she told NDTV that she wanted to send a "clear message" by her appearance at the ED office. "Everyone knows what politics is being playing out (aap sab jaante hi hain kya rajneeti hai)", she told India Today TV. The moment was not found to be wanting in optics. Priyanka and Robert hugged each other and planted a kiss on each other's cheek, bang outside the ED office, at the mouth of India Gate circle. Vadra’s questioning by the ED has come days after Priyanka was formally inducted into the Congress party.
From there, she drove straight to 10 Janpath and then walked over to neighbouring AICC headquarters where Congress workers welcomed her with slogans. "Priyanka you fight on, we are with you!" Media persons tried to intercept her but she ignored the pesky journalists and walked straight into the room allotted to her in the Congress headquarters. Incidentally, posters had come up overnight around the AICC headquarters hailing Robert Vadra. The posters were pulled down by the municipal workers as they were mounted without taking permission. One Jagdish Sharma, who claims to be a Congress worker, claimed he had put up the posters to show that Robert Vadra is very much in politics and he may also contest elections.
He claimed the municipal workers told him that their bosses had orders from the Prime Minister's Office not to allow any kind of posters of Priyanka anywhere in the capital.