Watch Nidhi Razdan: Why Priyanka Gandhi is not contesting elections

Gulf News

Over the last few weeks, the Indian media spent countless hours speculating about whether Rahul Gandhi would contest the family bastion of Amethi in UP and take on Union Minister Smriti Irani once again.  In the end, Rahul chose not to and instead filed his second Lok Sabha nomination from another Gandhi stronghold in UP — Rae Bareli. There continues to be intense debate about whether this was a smart move or not but the story that really interests me is why his sister Priyanka decided to sit out this election.  Read the full story here:  https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/priyanka-gandhis-election-snub-a-strategic-manoeuvre-1.102551720  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #India #politics

Transcript

00:00Well, after weeks of intense speculation, Priyanka Gandhi decided not to contest these

00:08Lok Sabha polls.

00:09And I believe that this is a mistake for several reasons.

00:12For one, she's been at the forefront of campaigning for the Congress across states nationally

00:17for several years now, and she's held organizational posts within the party.

00:22She is a far more natural and more charismatic politician than her brother.

00:26You can see that in the way she interacts with party cadre, with people, in her very

00:30bold and fiery speeches where she takes on the Prime Minister and the BJP leadership

00:36quite directly, reminding many of her grandmother, Indira Gandhi.

00:40So this was really the best time for her to be tested as far as Parliament elections were

00:46concerned.

00:47One of the reasons the Congress has cited for not fielding Priyanka is that the BJP

00:52would have used this to attack the Congress on the dynasty tag once again.

00:57Well, I have news for you.

00:59The BJP will continue to attack you on the Gandhi family and on dynasty, regardless of

01:04whether Priyanka Gandhi contests or not.

01:06And ultimately, in a democracy, it is voters that decide whether or not they will elect

01:11a dynast to Parliament.

01:13We saw that last time with Rahul Gandhi Namethi when he lost.

01:15The Gandhi surname was clearly not enough to see him through.

01:18So ultimately, voters are discerning when it comes to the choices that they make.

01:23Thirdly, as far as her leadership skills are concerned, yes, under her leadership, the

01:28Congress performed its worst ever in UP in the last assembly elections.

01:32But one can argue that this is a longstanding decimation of the party that has taken place

01:38in UP and it will take a very long time for them to rebuild from there.

01:41But she did also lead a very spirited campaign for the party, both in Himachal and Karnataka,

01:46which the party then went on to win.

01:49For these reasons, I believe that Priyanka Gandhi should have contested these Lok Sabha

01:53polls.

01:54It certainly would have made the election far more interesting.

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