Priyanka\'s entry in active politics will be game changer in 3 months:Pilot; BJP says no impact in LS polls

Priyanka's entry in active politics will be game changer in 3 months:Pilot; BJP says no impact in LS polls

Press Trust of India  |  Jaipur/New Delhi 

Priyanka Gandhi's formal entry into was Thursday described as a gamechanger in the next three months by Rajasthan's deputy Sachin Pilot, as the surprise move was dismissed by the BJP as having no impact on the upcoming polls.

As Priyanka's political plunge generated enthusiastic support from more leaders, posters urging her to contest the coming from Varanasi-- Narendra Modi's constituency-- came up in the holy city.

The move is going to be the game change in the next three months, Pilot said, amid speculation that Priyanka will stage a road show in UP next month. The elections to the are due in April-May this year.

Pilot was speaking at a session titled 'Democracy, Freedom and the Political Process: Looking to the Future' on the first day of Jaipur Literature Festival in

"Everyone in the party works as a team and as far as Priyanka is concerned has been handling (the Congress) war room for long and hence we should not prejudge her qualities and ability," he said, adding that both Rahul and Priyanka complement each other.

Pilot was replying to a question on what qualities did have which does not possess.

Addressing a public meeting in Salon area in on the second day of his visit to his parliamentary constituency, Gandhi said the Congress will fight the coming Lok Sabha polls with full strength.

termed himself, his sister and mother as soldiers for the people of the constituency.

"Priyanka and Scindia have been given a target. That is to form a Congress government in in the next election by defeating and wiping out the BJP," the Congress said. Along with Priyanka Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia was made incharge of UP West.

While won the 2014 from Amethi, his mother is an from adjacent had until now confined herself to electioneering in the constituencies of her brother and mother.

Both fall under the turf carved out for Narendra Modi's constituency and Yogi Adityanath's bastion Gorakhpur are also in eastern UP.

Former Uttarakhand Harish Rawat, a senior Congress leader, said Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active is full of possibilities and bound to pave the way for UPA's return to power at the Centre.

"Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active is full of possibilities. I am sure it will revive the party in UP with people from all sections rallying behind the Congress the way they did in 2009 at the call of Rahul Gandhi paving the way for UPA-II," the AICC in-charge of said.

"We will script history once again under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and bring about a major political transformation," he said in a statement released in Dehradun.

Claiming that Priyanka Gandhi's political plunge will have no impact on the Lok Sabha polls, Manoj Sinha, who is BJP's from Ghazipur in eastern UP, said her appointment may have generated a buzz in but claimed it has drawn no response from the region of which she has been made in-charge by her party.

Sinha said the appointment is an attempt by the Congress to gain some importance in as it was left in a "bad shape" after being left out of the opposition SP-BSP alliance.

At a BJP press conference in Delhi, he also played down ally Shiv Sena's praise for Priyanka Gandhi, saying it is the party's "personal opinion".

"was made a in and you people have been discussing it here. But it seems that people of the region of which she has been made in-charge are not noticing it," Sinha said.

He said the Lok Sabha elections will be fought on a "different plane", stressing that the has "changed the lives of 22 crore families with its development policies".

Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader, said the BJP would "gain" in Uttar Pradesh from the entry of Priyanka Gandhi into active politics, claiming that the move was aimed at "threatening the SP-BSP alliance" with the spectre of a split in votes.

also sarcastically said her appointment would bring the alleged corruption scandals involving her husband onto the "centre-stage", which would be to the BJP-led NDA's benefit.

"The BJP is not at all worried. Why should it be when her entry is only going to help us. The Congress has brought in Priyanka with a view to threaten the SP-BSP alliance, with the possibility of a split in their votes. It is a desperate attempt to make Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati do a rethink on their strategy," told reporters in

As per the seat-sharing formula, the SP and the BSP would contest 37 seats each in UP, which has a total number of 80 constituencies.

Out of the six that remain, only the Congress citadels of and Raebareli have been left for the party, while four have been assigned to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal(RLD).

"If there is a split in anti-BJP votes, who else is going to gain except the BJP. Moreover, Priyanka would be seen as a of her husband Robert Vadra, whose name has cropped up in a number of massive scams. With her entry, the corruption cases against will once again occupy the centre-stage," he remarked.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, January 24 2019. 19:25 IST