New Delhi: The Congress has stoutly denied reports that it plans a Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaign blitzkrieg across the country to counter the BJP’s Narendra Modi for the 2014 general elections.
“Some TV channels are reporting that Priyankaji will campaign for Congress. It is completely wrong,” said Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken today, emphasizing that Ms Gandhi will only campaign in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituencies of her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her brother, Rahul Gandhi.
Mr Maken also suggested that the reports were timed to “shift attention away from what happened in Madhya Pradesh,” where 115 people have died in a stampede. The Congress has demanded the chief minister of election-bound Madhya Pradesh, the BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan resign.
The charismatic Ms Vadra has in previous Lok Sabha elections and in Assembly polls lead-managed strategy and campaigns in these two areas of Uttar Pradesh, considered a Gandhi family bastion, but has not extended her participation in elections to other places.
Her brother Rahul Gandhi is widely seen as the Congress’ best bet to face off with Narendra Modi, who has been officially named the main opposition party’s presumptive PM for next year.
The two leaders have repeatedly baited each other in campaign speeches in states that go the polls in November and December this year.
Mr Modi will begin his campaign for the general elections in Uttar Pradesh this week with a rally in Kanpur
