Priyanka Vadra
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| Priyanka Vadra | |
|---|---|
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| Born | January 12, 1972 Delhi, India |
| Residence | Delhi |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Vadra |
| Children | Raihan Vadra and Miraya Vadra |
Priyanka Vadra (born Delhi January 12, 1972), is an Indian politician. She is the granddaughter of Feroze Gandhi and Indira (Nehru) Gandhi, and belongs to the Nehru-Gandhi family.
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Early life
Priyanka Vadra is the second of two children of late Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, current President of the Indian National Congress, and the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
Her father Rajiv Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi and great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru were all Indian Prime Ministers. Her grandfather Feroze Gandhi was a respected parliamentarian and her great-great-grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a distinguished leader in the Indian Independence Movement
She attended Modern School (New Delhi)[1] Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi, and holds a degree in psychology from Delhi University. She is an amateur radio operator, carrying the callsign of VU2PGY.
Political career
Priyanka Gandhi's role in politics has been marked by ambiguity. While campaigning regularly for the Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh, she initially claimed to have little interest in politics.
At a 1999 campaign, she said in an interview to BBC: "I am very clear in my mind. Politics is not a strong pull, the people are. And I can do things for them without being in politics"[2]. Nonetheless, the question of her joining formal politics would be bothersome: "I have said it a thousand times, I am not interested in joining politics..."[3].
However, she continued to regularly visit her mother's and brother's constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi where she dealt with the people directly, a role she appears to enjoy. She is a popular figure in the constituency, drawing large crowds everywhere; a popular slogan in Amethi in every election has been Amethi ka danka, bitiya Priyanka (the clarion call from Amethi is for Priyanka [to stand elections])[4]. She is reputed as a good organizer, level headed, and is believed to be her mother's "chief advisor on political matters"[4].
In the Indian general election, 2004, she was her mother's campaign manager and helped supervise her brother Rahul Gandhi's campaign. In a press meeting during these elections she said that "politics is all about serving the people and I am already doing that. I may continue doing only that for five years more."[5]. This led to speculations that she may bear some responsibilities for the Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh. In a BBC Hindi radio service interview she mentioned the war in Srilanka and commented"Its not your cause which makes you a terrorist but your method which makes you a terrorist.
Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 2007
In the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 2007, while Rahul Gandhi managed the statewide campaign, she focused on the ten seats in the Amethi Rae Bareilly region, spending two weeks there trying to quell considerable infighting within the party workers over seat allocations[6].
On the whole, the Congress party was routed in the state, managing 22 seats out of 402[7], its lowest tally in decades. However, in what is widely seen as a cachet for Priyanka Gandhi's quiet organizational and vote-drawing ability, the Congress which had only two area seats (out of ten) in the 2002 assembly, now managed to wrest seven, while posting significant gains in all the seats, and this despite initial dissidence within the party[8]. The details of the five seats each from the Rae Bareli and Amethi regions are as follows:
| No. | Constituency | Party | Elected Representative | Official results | INC %age 2007 (2002) |
| 091 | Bachhrawan | Congress | Raja Ram | results: 91 | 33.19 (9.95) |
| 093 | Rae Bareli | Ind | Akhilesh Kumar Singh | results: 93 | 20.25 (74.18) |
| 094 | Sataon | Congress | Shiv Ganesh | results: 94 | 49.13 (6.69) |
| 095 | Sareni | Congress | Ashok Kumar Singh | results: 95 | 43.53 (20.86) |
| 096 | Dalmau | Congress | Ajay Pal Singh | results: 96 | 36.38 (9.23) |
| 092 | Tiloi | SP | Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh | results: 92 | 31.34 (24.02) |
| 097 | Salon | Congress | Shiv Balak Pasi | results: 97 | 37.14 (25.17) |
| 105 | Amethi | Congress | Amita Singh | results: 105 | 40.59 (28.06) |
| 106 | Gauriganj | BSP | Chandra Prakash | results: 106 | 24.55 (22.71) |
| 107 | Jagdishpur | Congress | Ram Sewak | results: 107 | 37.6 (33.04) |
Note that at Rae Bareli, the erstwhile Congress candidate, winning since 1993, was disaffected from INC, and stood and won as an Independent. In all the other constituencies in the area, Congress made significant gains.
Personal life
She is married to Robert Vadra, whom she may have met at family friend Ottavio Quattrocchi's house[9]. They have two children, Raihan and Miraya.
Allegations of Massimo Quattrocchi connection
After the Bofors scandal-tainted businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi was arrested in Argentina on 6 February 2007 and the Indian government team failed to secure his extradition, Indian Express alleged that Ottavio's son Massimo Quattrocchi, who had grown up with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi over nearly two decades (1974-1993, starting when both their expatriate mothers were new to India), may have met her at a party on February 17[10]. This was however strongly denied by the Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who said in an interview: "The point I am making is that the Government has never interfered with the investigation of Quattrocchi. As far as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are concerned, they have nothing to do with it,"[11]. Nonetheless, speculation in this matter continues, given Massimo's presence in India at the time, and CBI's astonishing delay in even acknowledging Quattrocchi's arrest[12].
See also
References
- ^ Amrita Kapur, Tales of M.N. Kapur, History of Modern School
- ^ Mike Wooldridge, BBC News, Priyanka: Daughter of the dynasty, 1 October 1999
- ^ Rediff On The NeT: The Rediff Election Interview/ Priyanka Vadra
- ^ a b Purnima S. Tripathi (Volume 19 - Issue 26, December 21, 2002 - January 03, 2003). "A flutter in Amethi". Frontline (magazine). http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1926/stories/20030103004403100.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ Sanjay K Jha (2004). "Priyanka says, I am already in politics". The Pioneer (daily), Sultanpur. http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=VOTE_2004&file_name=vote365.txt&counter_img=365. Retrieved 2008-08-15. "She has dedicated herself to managing the election of her mother in Rae Bareli, doing everything from handling small details of the campaign to addressing public meetings herself."
- ^ Atiq Khan (2007-04-14). "Priyanka campaigns in Amethi". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/14/stories/2007041410270300.htm.
- ^ UP Assembly Election Results, Election Commission Website
- ^ "Gandhi siblings' magic worked in Rae Bareli, Amethi". May 11, 2007. http://www.rxpgnews.com/politics/Gandhi-siblings-magic-worked-in-Rae-Bareli-Amethi_27514.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ Ashok Malik (March 4, 2007). "The clue to Mr Q". The Pioneer. http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=ASHOK64%2Etxt&writer=ASHOK&validit=yes. "The [Quattrocchi] children were born and grew up here and were friends of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. It is believed that Robert Vadra's mother knew the Quattrocchi household fairly well, and that is where a future couple first met."
- ^ Coomi Kapoor (March 04, 2007). "Three-monkeys mode". Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/story/24764.html. Retrieved 2006-06-19.
- ^ Indo-Asian News Service (March 10, 2007). "Congress, Sonia want Q's extradition: Digvijay Singh". Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=6c2208af-0bdc-45c9-b39c-04c147298e3a&MatchID1=4469&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=4&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1110&PrimaryID=4469&Headline='Congress%2c+Sonia+want+Q's+extradition'. Retrieved 2006-06-19.
- ^ Sanjay Dubey (Mar 10 , 2007). "The Quattrocchi Quagmire: The kickback cloud hovers over him. His son does business in India. Why can't the CBI get him?". tehelka.com. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main27.asp?filename=Ne100307The_quattrocchi.asp. "The Interpol immediately (Feb 7) informed CBI about the arrest, but CBI and the government did not go public with the news until February 23, when the media had come to know about it. ... In a related development, a day before CBI announced Ottavio Quattrocchi's arrest, his son Massimo Quattrocchi left for Milan from New Delhi. (Lufthansa flight no.761)."
