I am not joining politics: Priyanka

Priyanka Gandhi, about whom there has been speculation that she will contest next Lok Sabha elections, says she has no plans of joining politics.

"I am not joining politics. I am looking after my mother's constituency as I did from 1999 to 2004 without being in politics," she has said in an SMS to a television channel.

Gandhi, daughter of Sonia Gandhi, has also said that there was nothing new in her interacting with workers in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the constituencies represented by her mother and brother Rahul, in the Lok Sabha.

"I have been doing so since 1991. As there have been organisational issues lately, I will be travelling to Rae Bareli now and then to look into them," she said.

This is the first public response of Priyanka over intense speculation in media about the possibilities of her contesting the 2014 general elections from Rae Bareli.

The trigger for the latest round of speculation was a number of meetings, Priyanka had with party workers from Amethi including a recent one at 10 Janpath, the official residence of the Congress President last month.

The Congress President returned last Monday from her visit abroad for medical check-up after which party sources said that her reports are "perfectly all right".

Priyanka Gandhi's involvement in Rae Bareli has seen an increase in the recent months, which was being attributed to her mother not being well.

Congress had lost all the five assembly seats in Sonia Gandhi's constituency in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, which came as a shocker to the party. It won only two of the five assembly seats in Amethi from where Rahul Gandhi is an MP.