January 22, 2025

The Congress is talking in many different voices about why Priyanka Vadra chose not to contest from Varanasi. While Rajiv Shukla is saying that it is the party president’s prerogative to select candidates and Rahul Gandhi decided against it, Sam Pitroda has been saying that Rahul had left it to Priyanka and she declined to contest. With no official word from the party, it is not clear why the idea (if there was any, in the first place) was scuttled.

To be fair, no one in the Congress had officially said that Priyanka was being considered as a candidate from Varanasi. It was all playfulness on part of Priyanka first and then when the media persisted in questioning Rahul, he kept up the suspense. It is one thing campaigning for the party and quite another to be a candidate. The party needs Priyanka to campaign, not to be sacrificed in Varanasi just to score a point. This is not the right time for her to contest as not too many safe seats can be found.

Further, the very reason (of pinning Modi to Varanasi by making Priyanka a candidate there) would have applied to Priyanka too. If she had stood from Varanasi, more than Modi it would have been she who would have been pinned to the constituency as she was a completely new candidate. The position of Congress in the constituency is not rosy – Priyanka would have had to put in a lot of effort to give the campaign a lift. It is also to be kept in mind that Varanasi has always been a BJP stronghold.

Priyanka Gandhi has been doing a good job of campaigning across India. The Gandhi family name and her striking resemblance to Indira Gandhi have worked in her favour. She has been drawing the crowds and has been throwing barbs at Modi and the BJP. She has also been receiving a fair share of media coverage. This is what the party wanted from her and she is doing it competently. Making her a candidate would have jeopardized the strategy the party had envisaged when it inducted her into active politics this time.