Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday stirred the dust once again after he said that he does not rule out the possibility of his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. “I will leave you in suspsense,” he said.
Ever since the Congress General Secretary for UP East, Priyanka Gandhi, dropped a hint that she may contest this time, during a boat campaign along the waters of Ganga, people have been waiting for a formal announcement with bated breaths.
Speaking on whether she will be the Congress candidate from Varanasi, Rahul Gandhi told The Hindu in an interview, “I will leave you in suspense. Suspense is not always a bad thing.”
When pressed further for an answer, the Congress chief added, “I’m not confirming or denying anything.”
With Priyanka finally making her political debut, the possibility of a high voltage contest between her and PM Modi in Varanasi has been the buzz for weeks. Last month, Priyanka Gandhi herself steered speculation towards the possibility during an interaction with Congress workers in Varanasi.
When she told the workers about her mother feeling bad she could not come down to meet them in Rae Bareli, they urged her to fight from the constituency. “Why not Varanasi,” she grinned, as reported by news agency IANS.
Priyanka’s statements came just a day after she told reporters that she was ready to contest the election. “If my party wants me to contest polls then I will definitely do so,” she said in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi’s constituency.
If the Congress goes ahead and makes an official announcement on the candidature of Priyanka Gandhi from Varanasi, it would be done with the aim to confine PM Modi to one constituency.