Ignored By Rahul In Cong, Priyanka Catches Up With Cousin Varun

Many in the Congress are still troubled by the manner in which Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remains a AICC General Secretary without any specific assignment. Her brother Rahul, who remotely controls the AICC is apparently not interested in sharing power or responsibility with her. He has made it clear to mother Sonia Gandhi. In this backdrop it is interesting to note that Priyanka visited her cousin Varun Gandhi on the death anniversary of her uncle Sanjay Gandhi (June 23) recently. There has always been a buzz that Priyanka and Varun share a close bond and it is speculated that while she may wish for a role for Varun in the Congress it may not go down well with Rahul. Interestingly, while Rahul wants full control over the Congress, he doesn’t mind using Priyanka’s name as a shield for his frequent foreign trips. Well that’s what happened when the BJP mocked the Lok Sabha LoP for flying out all too frequently. On a backfoot, the Congress rushed to clarify that he had gone to London to attend the graduation ceremony of his niece/ Priyanka’s daughter Miraya Vadra and would be back shortly. The clarification came as BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya had attacked Rahul Gandhi over what he said were “frequent disappearances”. Rahul Gandhi was on a secret foreign holiday just last week. Now, he has flown abroad again to yet another undisclosed location,” Malviya said on X. There was also speculation on social media that Rahul had gone to Bahrain. The Congress dubbed it as an effort of the “PMO, as usual, up to its dirty tricks”. Politically, for Priyanka what must have been important is the Nilambur assembly by-election win.