Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday posted on X an old photo with Kishori Lal Sharma, who defeated BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi. PTI
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, June 4
As the Congress retained Gandhi family bastion of Rae Bareli on Tuesday, reclaimed Amethi from the BJP and breached the saffron fort in Gujarat’s Banaskantha for the first time in a decade, the spotlight fell firmly on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who emerged as the campaigner-in-chief of the grand old party in the 2024 election.
Emerges Congress’ campaigner-in-chief
The 52-year-old AICC general secretary emerged Congress’ campaigner-in-chief in the 2024 elections, countering PM Modi’s “shehzada” attack on brother Rahul with “shahenshah” counter and PM’s “mangalsutra” offensive with “my mother sacrificed her mangalsutra” remark
It was Priyanka’s call that Rahul Gandhi should contest Rae Bareli after Sonia Gandhi retired from active politics, choosing to go to the Rajya Sabha instead. The strategic decision to field Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma instead of a Gandhi family member in Amethi was also Priyanka’s as she sought sweet revenge on Union minister Smriti Irani for defeating her brother Rahul in the segment in 2019.
And revenge she had today as Sharma emerged a giant slayer, defeating Irani with a margin of over 1.67 lakh votes in Amethi.
“Dear Kishori bhaiya, I never had any doubt that you would win Amethi,” Priyanka said on X today, posting a nostalgic frame that featured her and Sharma sharing a meal in an Amethi farm.
As leads across Uttar Pradesh and specifically Amethi and Rae Bareli (where Rahul won by a margin of over 3.9 lakh votes) emerged spelling the biggest upset for the BJP and the PM today, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor described Priyanka as the party’s principal mobiliser who “was there for all candidates”.
“I think Priyanka took the right call of not contesting Amethi and Rae Bareli and focusing on campaigning for all Congress candidates instead. Everyone benefited from her presence,” said Tharoor, who survived an initial scare from Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP to retain Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram for the fourth time today.
Priyanka had campaigned for Tharoor in the segment as she had for Congress’ Imran Masood in UP’s Saharanpur which the Congress won and Geniben Thakor in Gujarat’s Banaskantha, the only seat the grand old party bagged among Gujarat’s 26 on Tuesday. The Gujarat win came after a decade with the party’s state leader Shakti Sinh Gohil crediting Priyanka for her aggressive campaign in favour of Thakor, a two-term Congress MLA who was fighting her first LS poll.
“Priyanka ji’s rally in Banaskantha happened just few days after PM Narendra Modi’s,” Gohil recalled, adding that it was at this rally that Priyanka countered PM’s “shehzada” jibe at her brother Rahul with a “shahenshah” swipe.
“He calls my brother shehzada but this shehzada walked 4000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to listen to people’s woes. On the other hand, the shahenshah (Modi) lives in palaces, his face always clean, and clothes spotless...,” Priyanka said, taking the PM on in his home state.
In another counter to PM’s “Congress will steal your mangalsutra” offensive, Priyanka, the party general secretary, evoked her mother Sonia’s “sacrifice of her mangalsutra” for the country.
As the Congress posted the best-ever performance in 10 years, party leaders credited Priyanka’s measured campaign style and rhetoric for the political edge required by candidates to romp home. She held 108 public meetings across 16 states and UTs over 55 days of the election campaign, and conducted roadshows in Varanasi, PM’s segment; Wayanad, her brother’s seat in Kerala, UP’s Saharanpur and Fatehpur Sikri; Haryana’s Sirsa; and Himachal’s Solan among other places.
Congress sources are now hopeful she will contest an LS byelection once Rahul vacates one of the two seats he won today — Wayanad and Rae Bareli. Priyanka had entered active politics on the eve of 2019 General Election and is yet to take the LS plunge.
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