Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday deflected questions about contesting the assembly elections scheduled to be held next year in Uttar Pradesh, where she has been tasked with propping up her party’s fortunes. Priyanka Gandhi is that the general secretary answerable of Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress party could manage to win only seven seats within the 403-member House within the last assembly polls in 2017.
Priyanka Gandhi’s comments about her electoral debut came as she announced the Congress will give 40 per cent of its tickets to women within the state assembly elections slated for early next year.
As the 49-year-old was asked about whether she would choose Amethi or Rae Bareilly, which were once considered the party’s bastions in province, she was non-committal about contesting the upcoming state polls. “I will must fight [the elections] sooner or later or the opposite,” she replied to a matter about the likelihood of her contesting the polls.
Pressed further about whether it’ll be Amethi or Rae Bareilly, Priyanka said, “I haven’t taken the choice yet… i will be able to allow you to know as and when the thing develop”.
The reporter again asked Priyanka Gandhi whether she could guess about the assembly seat she is going to pick within the 2022 UP assembly polls. “You are trying to urge a reply out of me. But there’s no answer to your question for the present. i’ll cross-check it later,” she said.
On Sunday, Congress leader PL Punia said that Priyanka Gandhi would be the party’s face within the election campaign for the province assembly polls next year.
“So, the people are impressed by her and currently within the entire state, no politician is more popular than Priyanka Gandhi. As far as around whom the campaign are centred, we are fortunate that Priyanka Gandhi is accessible for (campaigning) all the time.
She wasn’t forthcoming on whether a lady would be projected because the Congress’ chief ministerial face within the state after her announcement about the allocation of seats to women. “I will tell you about this later once I want,” Priyanka, who has been visiting the politically crucial state regularly and hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, said.
“It is that the party’s promise to allow 40 per cent tickets to women within the coming elections. Had I had my way, i might have given 50 per cent tickets to them,” Priyanka said earlier in a very group discussion in Lucknow, adding it might be taken forward within the 2024 general elections.
“There is not any hidden meaning behind it. we would like women in politics to become full-fledged partners in power. we’ve decided that within the upcoming assembly polls in province, the Congress party will give 40 per cent of tickets to women,” she said.
The announcement by the Congress leader was greeted with the bursting of firecrackers and slogan-shouting by the party’s women workers who were watching the news conference on an outsized screen installed in its office.
