Rahul Gandhi may pass Wayanad baton to sister Priyanka

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, March 25: Political circle in the national capital is abuzz with the possibility of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking electoral plunge. A sense that former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi may have to face a long legal hurdle to come out of Surat Court conviction is fast dawning in the camp of the main Opposition party.

With Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla issuing the notification of disqualification from the membership of the lower House of Parliament after seeing Gandhi with alacrity, Congress legal luminaries are fretting over the prospect of tiring long journey to deal with the conviction ruling in Gujarat. “The legal battle will need to be fought in Gujarat alone, as is the requirement, and that may take quite a long time,” sources said.

The Election Commission mat go to call the byelection in Waynad next month to fill the vacancy arising out of the disqualification of Gandhi. This sets up his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress national general secretary, to step in to take the baton in the Waynad Parliamentary constituency.

She was livid at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday after Gandhi was disqualified, launching sharp attack on the ruling dispensation for slur thrown at the family.

Within Congress, Vadra is being keenly watched out for her “sharp articulation and unapologetic counterattack”. While Gandhi is often accused of being brash by his critics by often tripping over the nuances of articulation, Vadra counts successful campaign in Himachal Pradesh in her kitty for taking the fight in the BJP camp.

The Congress leaders, sources said, are growing warm to the idea of “brother (Gandhi) leading the party on the street and sister entering Parliament to become the voice of the Opposition”. Incidentally, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is not likely to contest the next Parliamentary elections, and Vadra may eye Rae Bareli constituency in inherit the family legacy, as the seat was once represented by Feroze Gandhi, her grandfather. But Congress would seek her to fill the void of her brother in the Lok Sabha for the remaining term of the lower House.

Also, Congress may be keen to get the Gandhi family member stay put in Kerala, as the BJP is stepping up efforts to wean away the Christian vote base to enter the state politics. Kerala remains one of the few strongholds of Congress.