‘Fully committed’: Priyanka junks ‘reluctant leader’ tag for Rahul Gandhi
“That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. They probably have nothing else to say. It is ridiculous to say that I am in politics because he failed,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
She may have taken her time to take the political plunge but it didn’t mean that she is a reluctant politician, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said, underlining that this was a tag that had also been thrust on her brother, Rahul.
“Just because I made a personal decision to remain out of politics for a certain period of time, doesn’t mean that when I decide to enter politics I am reluctant,” Priyanka Gandhi told news channel CNN-News18 on Friday.
Insisting that she was aware of her responsibilities and completely understood what the politician’s role would entail, she said, “I intend to discharge them fully.”
Priyanka added that “reluctant” was a descriptor that was also used for Rahul Gandhi though it was equally inaccurate.
“He has never been reluctant. He has been fully committed to his job and has done his job responsibly… “There is no question of reluctance either on my part or on my brother’s part,” she said.
Priyanka Gandhi’s political plunge was announced in January this year when she was inducted as a general secretary and assigned the role of overseeing the party’s revival in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
In an interview to NDTV, Priyanka Gandhi had ascribed her late entry into politics to her decision to raise her children. “I am 47 and did not join politics so that I could raise my children, take care of them,” she said.
Back in January, the Congress had described her induction as a “game changer”. But BJP leaders often take potshots at her brother claiming that the Congress had inducted her because of her brother’s performance.
“That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. They probably have nothing else to say. It is ridiculous to say that I am in politics because he failed,” she told CNN-News18.
Priyanka Gandhi also launched a scathing attack on the BJP’s Smriti Irani who is contesting against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, which goes to polls on Monday, April 6, in the fifth phase of voting.
“Smriti Irani has been to Amethi all of 16 times and has stayed for barely 4-5 hours each time. My brother has been to Amethi more than double that time. He stays there, he listens to the people, he understands their issues and is the only one who has worked for Amethi,” she said.
At the same time, she also accused the BJP of having got all the projects inaugurated by Rahul Gandhi stopped. “All projects inaugurated by him, stopped by who, by Smriti Irani, by her party, and her government,” she told the news channel.