How campaigner Priyanka now seeks vote for debutante Priyanka

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra started campaigning when she was just 17. That was for her father, Rajiv Gandhi. In the next 35 years, she became an ace campaigner for the Congress. For the first time, Priyanka, a seasoned campaigner, will seek votes for Priyanka, the first-time candidate, in Kerala's Wayanad.

"Ellorum Congressikku vote podungal (All of you vote for the Congress)". As a 26-year-old Priyanka Gandhi uttered these words at a Congress rally in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur, the crowd went crazy. They cheered, raised slogans, with some shouting "Our future leader!"

Although the words might not have matched the lengthy speeches of politicians, it certainly gave her mother, Sonia Gandhi, seated next to her in a green saree, the much-needed comfort on her political debut in 1998. Though it was Sonia's debut, Priyanka ended up being the star of the show.

Years later, the "future leader" prophecy has finally come true, and that too from the South.

Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers for the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-poll. Addressing a rally in Wayanad, Kerala, she recalled her 35-year-long campaigning association with the Congress and that she started when she was just 17, canvassing for her father, Rajiv Gandhi.

As she stepped into electoral politics by filing the nomination papers, the decades gone by show Priyanka Gandhi's evolution. Though she might be a debutante candidate, she has been a seasoned campaigner and an ace crisis manager for the Congress. It will be interesting to see how Priyanka, a veteran campaigner, seeks votes for Priyanka, a newbie candidate.

FIRST TIME CAMPAIGNING FOR MYSELF, SAYS PRIYANKA GANDHI

While addressing a public meeting in Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi said she had been campaigning in elections for 35 years, but this was the first time she sought support for herself. She revealed that she started to campaign for Congress at the age of 17, nine years before the said Sriperumbudur rally of 1998.

Coincidentally, with her brother Rahul Gandhi on the stage, their mother Sonia Gandhi was seen donning a green saree, attracting a parallel with the 1998 rally, one of Priyanka's earliest ones.

"When I was 17 years old, I campaigned for the first time for my father in 1989. It's now 35 years, I have campaigned for my mother, my brother and many of my colleagues in different elections," Priyanka said in English, which was translated to Malayalam for the thrilled crowd.

"But this is the first time I'm campaigning for myself," she added, thanking Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and her family for her Wayanad nomination, which she called an "honour".

Priyanka Gandhi's debut into electoral politics from Wayanad, followed her elder brother Rahul Gandhi vacating the seat after he won two constituencies, Wayanad and Rae Bareli, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

STRATEGIST TO CAMPAIGNER, MANY HATS PRIYANKA WORE

At 52, as Priyanka plunges into electoral politics, the 'will she, won't she' question has finally been answered, adding a new chapter in the political career that started 35 years ago.

Born into the influential Nehru-Gandhi family, Priyanka was probably destined for politics. Yet, she worked mostly from behind the scenes, focusing on campaigns and strategies.

As Priyanka Gandhi revealed, she began actively participating in her father Rajiv Gandhi's poll campaigns.

Later, she accompanied her mother Sonia Gandhi on her election campaigns in the late 1990s and, campaigned for her brother, Rahul Gandhi, since he entered politics in 2004.

Since her childhood, she has been a frequent visitor to the twin-Congress strongholds of Amethi and Rae Bareli, with people often calling for her to fight polls from there.

"Amethi ka Danka, Bitiya Priyanka," the slogan by poet, journalist and Congress supporter Jagdish Piyush, remained a constant greeting that welcomed her.

However, it was Rahul Gandhi who made his electoral debut in Amethi in 2004. Rahul remained an MP from Amethi till he lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani on the seat in 2019.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi kept managing the election campaigns of her mother and brother, while remaining in the background.

In 2019, when Priyanka Gandhi was appointed the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and was given charge of the party's campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh, her contributions and women-centric messaging were noted.

She oversaw numerous public outreach programmes across states and union territories too.

HOW PRIYANKA EMERGED AS CONGRESS' FIREFIGHTER

While she drove things from the backseat, Priyanka Gandhi wore the firefighting hat for the Congress, managing crisis after crisis that the party faced.

Following the death of Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi's political secretary who served as the Congress's key mediator-cum-trouble shooter, Priyanka filled the void quite efficiently. Patel died in 2020.

The Congress, by 2022, troubled by factionalism in several states and open criticism from its rebel G-23 leaders, saw Priyanka Gandhi step in during the turbulent time.

Her timely intervention helped defuse crises in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and, more recently, with the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government in Himachal Pradesh in February.

When Vikramaditya Singh announced his resignation as a Himachal minister amid a rebellion by six Congress MLAs, he mentioned speaking with Priyanka Gandhi about the situation. After the talks, he decided to put his resignation on hold.

Before the Lok Sabha election, a phone call from Priyanka Gandhi to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav broke the two-month deadlock over the seat-sharing issue.

Priyanka Gandhi is also credited with settling the Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot no-holds-barred feud in Rajasthan in 2022. Priyanka's intervention eventually saved the Congress government in Rajasthan.

Another phone call from Priyanka to Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav's wife, helped the Congress finalise its seat sharing before the 2017 UP Assembly polls.

Priyanka Gandhi's decision to contest the Wayanad by-election is being seen as a strategic move by the Congress party to revitalise its fortunes. If she wins, it would mark the presence of three members of the Gandhi family in Parliament, a scenario that she had long been reluctant to face. However, the Gandhi brother-sister will also represent the north-south of the country. With the electoral plunge in Wayanad, the ace navigator Priyanka will be guiding the rookie candidate Priyanka. It will be interesting to see how the campaign speaker seeks votes for herself.