Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter joins family firm to help oust Modi

PRIYANKA GANDHI made her longawaited entry into the heart of Indian politics yesterday as she joined the opposition party campaigning to unseat prime minister Narendra Modi.

Ms Gandhi, 48, – whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers – was appointed Congress party chief in the east of Uttar Pradesh – considered India’s most politically important state.

She will report to her brother, Rahul Gandhi, a fellow descendant of the Nehru-gandhi dynasty, who heads the main opposition party that ruled India for much of its post-independence.

The news came as Mr Modi spoke about his spiritual past and deprived upbringing as he reached out to voters before the spring general election. The 68-year-old said he would spend “reflective” days alone each year in the jungle to attain self-realisation.

“Not many people know this, but I would go away for five days somewhere in the jungle during the Diwali holidays every year, a place with only clean water and no people,” he told the Humans of Bombay Facebook page on Tuesday. “The strength that this time gave me still helps me handle life and its various experiences,” he said.

He also spoke about his disadvantaged childhood as the son of a tea-seller in Gujarat state which contrasts with the privileged Cambridge-educated background of Mr Gandhi. Mr Modi led the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to victory in 2014.