It is now official. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her debut in electoral politics at the highest level—Lok Sabha poll. She will be contesting from Wayanad constituency in Kerala. The seat has been vacated by her brother Rahul Gandhi who chose to retain Rae Bareli after having successfully fought the recent Lok Sabha elections from both Wayanad and Rae Bareli.

Priyanka’s choice of Wayanad is important: an estimated 40 per cent of the electorate there belongs to Muslims, which is sure to ensure her victory. If that happens, it will be for the first time that three members of the Gandhi family will be in Parliament at the same time. Sonia Gandhi is already a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament.

The much-anticipated decision was made public after a meeting Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka had with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretary K C Venugopal— who are considered close to the Gandhi family—on 17 June in New Delhi. The fact that the move pertained to the family obviated the need for formalising it through an established forum of the party like Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making forum. Priyanka’s plunge into electoral politics has long been in the realm of speculation.

The decision by Rahul to hold on to Rae Bareli, the seat vacated by his mother recently, and by Priyanka to finally join parliamentary contest appears to stem from a highly buoyant mood to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a BJP with reduced parliamentary strength in the Lok Sabha election. The decision also kept open the option of Rahul finally taking over the formal mantle of the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha as decided by Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making forum.

Congress sources say the top leadership’s assessment is that this is the right time to double down on the Modi government as BJP does not have a majority on its own and is dependent on the support of NDA allies for survival. There is also recognition in Congress that the presence of Rahul, Sonia and Priyanka in parliament will give BJP a fresh opportunity to corner Congress with the “dynasty politics” weapon used widely in the recent polls.

But there are other reasons for Rahul retaining Rae Bareli. Congress is sending a clear signal that it will continue its fight for its further resurgence in Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest number of Lok Sabha seats (80) hoping it would have a spill-over effect in the Hindi heartland states.

Congress’ eyes are on fresh UP assembly polls in 2027 and the improved performance in recent parliamentary polls in the state could serve as the springboard for that. In the previous state assembly poll in UP in 2022, when BJP led by saffron-robed Yogi Adityanath returned to power, Congress fought in all the 403 seats but ended up winning just two seats despite Priyanka being in charge of the party’s UP affairs. Although Priyanka remains the party general secretary, she is no longer in charge of Congress organisational affairs in UP.

Congress reckons its rejuvenation in UP along with its gains in Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Punjab in 2024 elections is designed to create a perception about its growing strength and have a rub-off effect in north and west parts of India where its footprints had shrunk considerably after the advent of Modi on the national scene. This has the potential to alter the complexion of both parliament and opposition politics in future.

The alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party in UP in the 2024 parliamentary poll gave a major blow to BJP’s hopes of securing a majority on its own for the third time in national polls. The saffron party’s tally of seats in UP this year slumped to 33 from 62 in 2019 when Congress failed to win a single parliamentary seat in spite of a tie-up with SP.

This time, Congress contested 17 of the 80 seats (leaving the rest to allies in UP) and won six with a vote share of 9.46 per cent as against 6.36 per cent five years ago. BJP may have suffered reverses in Lok Sabha poll in UP this time, but the SP-Congress impressive show in the state was not enough to stop the saffron outfit to retain power at the Centre albeit with the help of allies. For now, the old political adage that ‘the road to Delhi goes through UP’ stands questioned.
Congress hopes Priyanka's contesting in Wayanad will boost the party's bid to regain power in Kerala, ruled by the Left parties, which goes to fresh assembly polls in 2026.
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The writer is a veteran Indian journalist