Priyanka Gandhi
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| Priyanka Gandhi Vadra | |
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| Born | January 12, 1972 Delhi, India |
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| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse | Robert Vadra |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Delhi |
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (born Delhi January 12, 1972), is an Indian politician. The daughter of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi, she is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi political family; her father (Rajiv Gandhi), grandmother (Indira Gandhi), and great-grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru), were all Indian Prime Ministers. Both her father and her grandmother were assassinated, the latter while in office.
Her mother Sonia Gandhi is currently the President of the Indian National Congress, and the leader of the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
She attended Modern School (New Delhi)[1] Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi, and holds a degree in psychology from Delhi University.
She is married to Robert Vadra, whom she may have met at family friend Ottavio Quattrocchi's house[2]. They have two children, Raihan and Miraya.
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[edit] Role in Politics
Like her mother, Priyanka's role in politics has been marked by ambiguity. While campaigning regularly for the Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh, she initially claimed to have little interest in politics. At a 1999 campaign, she said in an interview to BBC: "I am very clear in my mind. Politics is not a strong pull, the people are. And I can do things for them without being in politics"[3]. Nonetheless, the question of her joining formal politics would be bothersome: "I have said it a thousand times, I am not interested in joining politics..."[4].
However, she continued to regularly visit her mother's and brother's constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi where she dealt with the people directly, a role she appears to enjoy. She is a popular figure in the constituency, drawing large crowds everywhere; a popular slogan in Amethi in every election has been Amethi ka danka, bitiya Priyanka (the clarion call from Amethi is for Priyanka [to stand elections])[5]. She is reputed as a good organizer, level headed, and is believed to be her mother's "chief advisor on political matters"[5].
In the Indian general election, 2004, she was her mother's campaign manager and helped supervise her brother Rahul Gandhi's campaign. In a press meeting during these elections she said that "politics is all about serving the people and I am already doing that. I may continue doing only that for five years more."[6]. This led to speculations that she may bear some responsibilities for the Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh.
[edit] Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 2007
In the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 2007, while Rahul Gandhi managed the statewide campaign, she focused on the ten seats in the Amethi Rae Bareilly region, spending two weeks there trying to quell considerable infighting within the party workers over seat allocations[7].
On the whole, the Congress party was routed in the state, managing 22 seats out of 402[8], its lowest tally in decades. However, in what is widely seen as a cachet for Priyanka Gandhi's quiet organizational and vote-drawing ability, the Congress which had only two area seats (out of ten) in the 2002 assembly, now managed to wrest seven, while posting significant gains in all the seats, and this despite initial dissidence within the party[9]. The details of the five seats each from the Rae Bareli and Amethi regions are as follows:
| No. | Constituency | Party | Elected Representative | Official results | INC %age 2007 (2002) |
| 091 | Bachhrawan | Congress | Raja Ram | results: 91 | 33.19 (9.95) |
| 093 | Rae Bareli | Ind | Akhilesh Kumar Singh | results: 93 | 20.25 (74.18) |
| 094 | Sataon | Congress | Shiv Ganesh | results: 94 | 49.13 (6.69) |
| 095 | Sareni | Congress | Ashok Kumar Singh | results: 95 | 43.53 (20.86) |
| 096 | Dalmau | Congress | Ajay Pal Singh | results: 96 | 36.38 (9.23) |
| 092 | Tiloi | SP | Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh | results: 92 | 31.34 (24.02) |
| 097 | Salon | Congress | Shiv Balak Pasi | results: 97 | 37.14 (25.17) |
| 105 | Amethi | Congress | Amita Singh | results: 105 | 40.59 (28.06) |
| 106 | Gauriganj | BSP | Chandra Prakash | results: 106 | 24.55 (22.71) |
| 107 | Jagdishpur | Congress | Ram Sewak | results: 107 | 37.6 (33.04) |
Note that at Rae Bareli, the erstwhile Congress candidate, winning since 1993, was disaffected from INC, and stood and won as an Independent. In all the other constituencies in the area, Congress made significant gains.
[edit] References
- ^ Amrita Kapur, Tales of M.N. Kapur, History of Modern School
- ^ Ashok Malik. "The clue to Mr Q", The Pioneer, March 4 2007. "The [Quattrocchi] children were born and grew up here and were friends of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. It is believed that Robert Vadra's mother knew the Quattrocchi household fairly well, and that is where a future couple first met."
- ^ Mike Wooldridge, BBC News, Priyanka: Daughter of the dynasty, 1999-10-01
- ^ Rediff On The NeT: The Rediff Election Interview/ Priyanka Vadra
- ^ a b Purnima S. Tripathi. "A flutter in Amethi", Frontline (magazine), Volume 19 - Issue 26, December 21, 2002 - January 03, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ Sanjay K Jha. "Priyanka says, I am already in politics", The Pioneer (daily), Sultanpur, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-08-15. "She has dedicated herself to managing the election of her mother in Rae Bareli, doing everything from handling small details of the campaign to addressing public meetings herself."
- ^ Atiq Khan. "Priyanka campaigns in Amethi", The Hindu, 2007-04-14.
- ^ UP Assembly Election Results, Election Commission Website
- ^ "Gandhi siblings' magic worked in Rae Bareli, Amethi", May 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
