A day after Sonia Gandhi’s comment on retirement set off speculation about her role after Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as Congress president, her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said her mother would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from her constituency of Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
Asked if she could be the Congress candidate from Rae Bareli for the 2019 polls, Ms. Vadra told the news channel NDTV , “There is no question of my contesting ... my mother [Sonia] will be contesting from Rae Bareli.”
Ms. Vadra, who was accompanied by her husband, Robert Vadra, described her brother taking over the party reins as a proud moment and praised her mother’s role in handling the party for nearly two decades.
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“My mother is the bravest woman I have seen. She faced a lot of difficulties,” Ms. Vadra said.
Her comments reinforced what the Congress said on Friday after Ms. Gandhi’s casual remarks to presspersons in the Parliament complex that it was time for her retire.
As TV channels started reporting of Ms. Gandhi’s retirement, Congress communication chief Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, “Would sincerely request friends in the media to not rely upon innuendos. Smt. Sonia Gandhi has retired as President of Indian National Congress and not from politics.”
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For some time now, there has been speculation about Ms. Gandhi’s role once her son formally took over as Congress chief.
Though there has been talk of creating a post of patron, the party has made no official statement.
On Saturday, senior party leader Janardan Dwivedi, who was the master of ceremonies, referred to Ms. Gandhi as the party’s topmost leader and chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party that sets the party agenda in Parliament, including reaching out to allies for joint strategy.
The party’s communication wing, while handing out her speech to the media, referred to her as the UPA chairperson indicating that she would play an active political role as the party gears up for the 2019 polls.