NEW DELHI: The BJP is treading cautiously on raising the land grab allegations against Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was recently appointed as the Congress’ general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Sources said that a large section within the BJP feels that an attack on Priyanka about her husband’s land deals could backfire on the party, if not handled properly, as the Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. The Congress, they feel, will try to create a perception that she is being targeted because she has been given a formal responsibility in the party.
Vadra is facing probes by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation in cases of alleged money-laundering. The ED had summoned Vadra in November in connection with a 2012 land grab case in Rajasthan. The agency had raided his office premises as well in December. The agency had said that Vadra ignored two of its summons.
BJP sources said the party did not want to give “much importance” to Priyanka’s appointment in the Congress. “There is nothing new about it. The entire world knew that she was already active in the party organisation. She was working for the party from behind the scenes. The only new development is that it has been made official now,” said a senior UP BJP leader.
“Congress does not have any organisational base in UP. They don’t even have enough candidates to be fielded in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The party has now been sidelined by SP and BSP, who have left just two seats—Rae Bareli and Amethi—for it. So there is an existential problem for the Congress and that was the reason probably why Priyanka was roped in,” he said.
BJP leaders feel that Priyanka has never worked from the front in UP and her earlier campaigns were restricted only to Amethi and Rae Bareli, the constituencies represented by her family members. Hence, she does not know much about the state and is hardly going to have any impact on the rest of UP. As one BJP leader put it, “Only the Delhi media is talking about her, but the people of the region of which she has been given charge, have not taken any notice.”
BJP sources said that their party would not give any importance to this appointment. Rather, it would continue to highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. “Our approach is clear. We will continue to talk about our achievements and strengthen our organisational network in the state. We are already holding meetings of booth-level workers all over the state,” said a party source.
BJP leaders believe that the situation in Amethi has changed after Smriti Irani’s continued interaction with the people there. Even after losing the Amethi battle to Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she has continued her work in that constituency. BJP leaders say that the Congress is scared that it may lose Amethi and, therefore, Priyanka has been called to somehow save the situation.