Priyanka in no hurry to enter electoral politics Saturday, May 1 2004 16:18 Hrs (IST)
New Delhi:
Priyanka Gandhi today (Apr 6, 2004) indicated that she has no immediate plans to enter electoral politics, but was ready to campaign extensively for the Congress.
"I am happy with the service I am rendering to the people of Amethi and Rae Bareilly. I will continue the programmes I have started for women and children," she told 'Aaj Tak' in an interview in Rae Bareilly where her mother Congress president Sonia Gandhi was filing her nominations today.
To a specific query about reports that Congress has identified some 100 Lok Sabha constituencies where it wanted her to campaign, Priyanka said she has also been hearing and reading such reports.
"Right now I am in Amethi and Rae Bareilly. But if the party wants that I should campaign elsewhere too, then I will definitely do so. Why not," she said.
Priyanka was profuse in her praise of her elder brother Rahul, whom she described as "sincere and clean-hearted person who wanted to work for the people. I am proud of him".
She dismissed suggestions that she was not entering active politics so as to avoid creation of two separate power centres (brother and sister). "I and my brother can never be two power centres. We are one and will continue to be one throughout our life," she said
On the feel-good factor of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-led coalition and whether she too felt proud of any of the actions of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), Priyanka said at least she has not been able to recollect one.
"Whatever they have done, they have done for their Ministers... Perhaps they have done well only for themselves," she said.