Priyanka Gandhi: India's Congress leader to contest election – BBC News

Priyanka Gandhi, sister of India's main opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, is set to contest her first election, ending decades of anticipation by her supporters.

Mrs Gandhi is a scion of India's most famous political dynasty, the Nehru-Gandhi family, and her electoral debut will be closely watched.

The 52-year-old will contest the Wayanad seat in south India's Kerala after his brother gave it up.

Mrs Gandhi's victory means the presence of three members of the Gandhi family in the Indian Parliament.

His mother Sonia Gandhi, former president of the Congress party, is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament.

His brother Mr. Gandhi won both the Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh in the recent parliamentary elections.

Mr Gandhi, who has represented Wayanad as MP since 2019, is giving it up as he can hold only one parliamentary seat under Indian law. On Monday, he thanked the people of Wayanad for their “love, affection and support”.

The date for the by-election is yet to be announced but Ms Gandhi said she was “not nervous at all”.

“I am very happy to represent Wayanad and I will not let them (Rahul Gandhi) feel their absence,” he said on Monday. “I will work hard and I will do my best to please everyone and be a good representative.”

The by-election will end a decade-long wait by Congress supporters for Miss Gandhi's involvement in electoral politics.

Journalist Javed Ansari, who has reported on the Congress party for decades, told BBC Hindi that he was not surprised by the announcement.

“I think it was a question of when (he would compete) and not if,” he said.

Over the years, Mrs Gandhi was considered the more popular of the Gandhi siblings and many blamed her brother's “opaque leadership” for Congress' defeats between 2014 and 2019.

From an early age, people have pointed out Miss Gandhi's resemblance to her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Mrs Gandhi has been actively involved in her mother's election campaigns since the late 1990s. When he actively joined politics in 2004, he campaigned for his brother.

Senior leaders have praised his political acumen and his flair for engaging with people.

Ms Gandhi's formal entry into politics came before the 2019 general elections when she was given the task of campaigning for the Congress in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh state.

The Congress fared poorly in that election and in the 2022 state assembly elections, but Mrs Gandhi was not to blame. Senior leaders of the team said the performance was a reflection of his work and was not in line with their expectations.

Appointed Congress general secretary in 2019, Ms Gandhi has since overseen the party's campaign in several state elections.

Party leaders say he was instrumental in stabilizing the Congress government in the state of Himachal Pradesh this year amid a revolt by some of his own lawmakers.

He was at the forefront of the Congress campaign in the state of Uttar Pradesh – where opposition parties performed surprisingly well – and particularly in the Gandhi family strongholds of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

“He held the fort for Rahul and that's how he can campaign across the country,” Mr Ansari said.

Political commentator Neerja Chowdhury said it would be interesting to see the siblings together in Parliament if Mrs Gandhi wins.

“Personally, I think Priyanka is the keeper of the two. He thinks on his feet and his language is clearer than that,” he said, adding that he would be “watched very closely”.

Congress leaders and workers in Kerala have expressed joy at the prospect of Miss Gandhi becoming an MP from WANAD.

District Party Committee President ND Ayyappan. said: “This indicates that the family will continue to have ties with the people of Wayanad.”

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticized dynastic politics in response to news of Ms Gandhi's electoral debut.

“Congress is not a party but a family business,” said BJP leader Shehzad Poonawala.

But his candidacy announcement drew praise from Annie Raja, a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), who ran against Mr Gandhi in the recent election.

Ms Raja, who lost the election by a margin of 360,000 votes, did not confirm whether she would contest against Ms Gandhi in the by-election.

But he said, we need more women in Parliament.