Will Priyanka prove to be Rahul's trump card?

Priyanka Gandhi, sister of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, has been appointed Congress General Secretary for UP East and will be in charge of campaigning for the general elections in May. She closely resembles her grandmother Indira Gandhi, apparently is very good at campaigning and is said to be popular with voters. Although, "the BJP has criticised Rahul as a failure reaching out to his sister for help", the timing appears to be perfect because Rahul is credited with wins in assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh at the end of last year, giving a fitting reply to BJP's taunts of "Pappu" and "Rahul Baba", implying an infantile fool. Rahul is sending a message. "The message in loud and clear. Eastern UP means Varanasi and Varanasi equals Narendra Modi. Giving Priyanka charge of Eastern UP is tantamount to taking on the opponent on his own turf." It is shaping up to be a three-way fight in UP, with SP, BSP and the RLD forming a 'Mahagathbandhan' which means a 'grand alliance'. The Congress is not expected to win many seats in UP but Priyanka is expected to increase its vote share, which means who wins between the BJP and the alliance will depend on whose votes are taken away by the Congress. It is easy to sneer at Rahul but Modi will find it difficult to bad-mouth Priyanka in these days of the 'Me Too' movement. Modi will almost definitely win from Varanasi but it will be sweet revenge for Priyanka if she can reduce BJP's tally of seats from UP and thus prevent Modi from becoming prime minister for a second time, because it is almost impossible to form a government in India without winning a majority of the 80 seats in UP. Last December the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided offices of Sunlight Hospitality in Delhi and Bengaluru on charges of a land scam. The company is owned by Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra and ED's actions were condemned as "hooliganism" by Congress leader Kapil Sibal. "I am an Indian citizen and I am not running away anywhere," said Vadra, probably alluding to all those who have fled from India after being accused of financial scams. Modi has been accused of using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to launch fictitious cases against opponents and, unfortunately for him, his tweeted messages before elections in 2014 have been dug up by the opposition. The CBI is so badly discredited under Modi that families of murder victims do not want it to investigate their killings. Modi is undoubtedly a formidable orator but his claims to moral superiority over the previous Congress government have been shattered. May will show how many still believe in him.