A 26-year-old woman sharing the dais with Sonia Gandhi at her election rally in Sriperumbudur in 1998 crated ripples when she held the mike in her hand and said, “Ellorum Congressikku vote podungal (All of you vote for the Congress)”. The ecstatic crowd cheered and chanted in reply, “She is our leader”. It was Priyanka Gandhi and her mother was making her electoral debut.

Priyanka Gandhi Campaigned At 17

The Gandhi scion who claims to have tasted the waters for the first time at the age of 17 when she campaigned for her father Rajiv Gandhi, filed her nomination papers 35 years after the incident when she came to canvass for the then Congress President.

Now the 17-year-old girl is a 52-year-old lady and the 26-year-old lady is in the fray from Kerala’s Wayanad though she has been campaigning for her brother Rahul Gandhi and mother Sonia since 1998. 

Priyanka Makes Electoral Debut

While addressing an election rally in English she said, “When I was 17 years old, I campaigned for the first time for my father in 1989. It’s now 35 years, I have campaigned for my mother, my brother, and many of my colleagues in different elections.” Her speech was translated into Malayalam to a thrilled crowd. She later added that this was the first time she was campaigning for herself.

She later added that this was the first time she was campaigning for herself. After making the party and her supporters wait for a long time, Priyanka Gandhi launched a new chapter in her career when she threw her hat in the ring.

Old Poll Manager, New Candidate

Though she is making an electoral debut in Wayanad now, Priyanka Gandhi has been visiting the twin constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli since her 20s. People would chant, “Amethi ka Danka, Bitiya Priyanka.”

Though she did not contest elections herself, she has been the main force behind the election management. It is believed that she handled the campaign machine, the main vote catcher, and her appeal worked on the voters, particularly the youth.

Political observers believe Priyanka Gandhi has grown up over a period of time and established herself as a political guru and a trusted troubleshooter of the Congress.

Priyanka Graduates To Trouble Shooter

She was made the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and in charge of Uttar in 2019. As the Congress in charge of the state of UP, she managed the party well, though she failed to make a turnaround for the party in the state. The Congress performed miserably in the UP Assembly Elections 2022 under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi. It failed not only to unseat the ruling BJP, the Congress could not get a good number of seats in the assembly.

Priyanka Fails In UP

Priyanka Gandhi emerged as the main troubleshooter of the party after the death of Ahmed Patel in 2020 and tried to fill the void, but she failed to manage the party on many occasions. When many leaders of the party including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal revolted against the party a so-called G-23 emerged challenging the party’s high command. Though Priyanka Gandhi steered the party from the crisis, she could not convince the rebellious leaders to come back to the party fold.

Will Priyanka Leave Her Footprint In Wayanada?

After Rahul Gandhi quit Wayanad and opted to keep Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, the CPI from the Left Democratic Front vacated has fielded Sathyan Mokeri. Priyanka will also have to take on Navya Haridas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Political analysts have pointed out that the vote share of Rahul Gandhi dwindled from 64.94% to 59.69% in 2019, while Annie  Raja of the CPI and K Surendran of the BJP witnessed an increase of 0.8% and 5.75% respectively in their tally. The by-poll will show if Priyanka increases the impact of the Congress by attracting more votes.