Watch Nidhi Razdan: Priyanka Gandhi jumps into electoral fray

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00:00Priyanka Gandhi's campaign in Wayanad is in full gear at the moment. The Lok Sabha seat

00:08has been vacated by her brother Rahul Gandhi, who also won from Raibareli in Uttar Pradesh

00:13earlier this year. And if she wins, this will mark Priyanka Gandhi's debut as a parliamentarian.

00:19She's been a backroom strategist and campaigner for the Congress party for all these years.

00:24And this is the first time that she's really being put front and center as far as electoral

00:29politics is concerned. And I think it's a great thing for the Congress party for many reasons.

00:35One is that Priyanka is a natural campaigner. She's a much more natural politician than even

00:41her brother is in some sense. The way she connects with people, the way she's able to mobilize

00:46the party cadre and the way she takes on the opposition BJP. She has her own unique way and

00:52her unique style of doing it. And to her credit, she has been very actively involved behind the

00:57scenes, whether it's in the party's success in Karnataka or in Himachal Pradesh. Of course,

01:03the party did disastrously under her in Uttar Pradesh, but that has more to do with its

01:07structural weaknesses in India's largest state, rather than with Priyanka herself.

01:12If she does go on to win Wayanad, this will be historic for many reasons. Also, because

01:17it would be the first time you have three members of the Gandhi family who are in parliament. Now,

01:21the BJP does throw up the dynasty card and accuses the Gandhi family of essentially

01:27promoting the Gandhi family. But the fact is that dynasty is very much a part of Indian

01:32politics and it's happening across the board. If you look at the BJP too, it's not immune to this

01:37problem of dynasty politics. And ultimately, voters are going to choose or to reject a

01:43candidate. Dynasts have lost elections before Rahul lost Amethi, if you remember in the last

01:48general election in 2019. So it's really up to voters to decide. And that's really not a

01:53strong enough argument. Hopefully, what Priyanka will also do for the Congress is to galvanize its

01:58cadre whose morale has been rather downbeat since the disaster in Haryana and its dismal performance

02:04in Jammu and Kashmir as well. So that could be something that could revitalize the Congress.

02:10But ultimately, for the Congress itself to succeed, it has to do so much more than just

02:15depend on the Gandhi siblings in order to see them through. There are inherent structural

02:20weaknesses within the party that have to be addressed, leadership issues that have to be

02:24addressed. But Priyanka will hopefully bring a breath of fresh air to the way they do their

02:29politics.