The news that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is moving to Lucknow appears almost every year like the seasonal flu. And then, it vanishes suddenly.
This year, however, after a Central government directive that has asked her to vacate bungalow number 35 she occupies at Lodhi Estate by August 1, the rumours that Priyanka might move to Lucknow have appeared with greater strength.
Ajay Kumar Lallu, chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, is unwilling to give a clear answer about such a move being possible.
“She is a daughter of the state. She is free to come and go as she wants. She has stayed in Lucknow for some days earlier, it could be the same now. As the party’s general secretary, she is in charge of the state after all,” Lallu claimed.
On being asked whether a bungalow was being spruced up for her arrival, Lallu said, “Whatever needs to be done, will be done when the time comes.”
The house that Priyanka is speculated to move in to is the Gokhale Marg residence of the late Sheila Kaul, who was the maternal aunt of Priyanka’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi. Kaul was also a five-time Member of Parliament and governor of Himachal Pradesh.
Another senior Congress functionary that THE WEEK spoke to said that there had been “no official communication” about such a move.
“When in Lucknow, she would stay there for a couple of days. Nothing will change now,” he said.
Congress workers are also wary of the fact that while the party has managed to drum up some support for itself since the start of the lockdown, it does not have the numbers to launch a full-scale political offensive against the Yogi Adityanath government.
“When Lallu (state party president) goes for symbolic protests and courts arrest, he has just 100-150 people with him. For all the noise that the party has made, on the ground, we do not have the manpower. It would be futile for her [Priyanka] to come here at such a time,” said a senior leader.
There is also hope that Priyanka would be allotted another bungalow in Delhi on the recommendation of an MP—two of whom are in her own family.
