Priyanka to be pitted against Modi in 2014 campaign? No, says Cong

The Congress on Monday categorically denied media reports that party chief Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Vadra will campaign for the party in the 2014 general elections, and said this news has been floated to divert attention from the Madhya Pradesh temple tragedy.

“We condemn news channels that have claimed Priyanka Gandhi will be campaigning for the Congress across the country. There is no truth in it. This news has been floated to divert attention from failures of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh,” said All India Congress Committee General Secretary and Communication Department in-charge Ajay Maken.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, used the occasion to target the Gandhi family and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

BJP vice-president Balbir Punj lauded his party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s growing popularity, and said that the latest political development reflects the nervousness and desperation of the Congress.

“I am very amused. And, like anybody else in this country, even Priyanka Gandhi has every right to campaign and promote her party. But it has underlined three very ugly realities of Indian politics and the Congress,” said Punj.

Certain media reports earlier said that Priyanka has decided to campaign for the party throughout India in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.