Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Appointed AICC General Secretary In-Charge Of UP East

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Wednesday appointed AICC General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

The appointment marked her official entry into politics, and is expected to boost morale of the party workers in the state which sends 80 MPs to Lok Sabha. She will take charge in the first week of February.

In a press statement, the Congress party also announced that Jyotiraditya Scindia will be in charge of western UP.

There have been demands within the Congress for a prominent role for 47-year-old Priyanka to revive the Congress in Uttar Pradesh which was a Congress bastion till mid 1980s.

Priyanka, a mother of two and wife of Robert Vadra, has always confined her role in overseeing campaigning in Amethi and Raebareli, the constituencies of her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi and mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi respectively.

After the SP and BSP kept the Congress out of their anti-BJP alliance for the Lok Sabha polls in the state, the party announced that it will contest all 80 seats in the state.

At present, Congress has only two Lok Sabha seats of Amethi and Raebareli from Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress party also announced that KC Venugopal will replace Ashok Gehlot as AICC General Secretary (organization) with immediate effect. He will continue his role as AICC General Secretary In-Charge for Karnataka. Ghulam Nabi Azad will be in charge of Haryana.

(With inputs from PTI)