In 1997, Gandhi married Robert Vadra, a Delhi-based businessman, and started using the name Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The couple have two children.
After being asked to vacate the government accommodation at Lodhi estate, Gandhi moved to Gurugram.[7]
Political career
Gandhi Vadra regularly visited the constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi, where she interacted directly with the local residents.[8] In the 2004 Indian general election, she served as her mother's campaign manager and assisted in overseeing her brother Rahul Gandhi's campaign.[9] During the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, while Rahul Gandhi managed the statewide campaign, she concentrated on the ten seats in the Amethi and Rae Bareilly region, spending two weeks addressing infighting among party workers over seat allocations.[10]
Formative years
Despite Gandhi Vadra's reluctance to engage directly in politics before her official entry in 2019, she actively participated in election campaigns for her mother and brother in both general and assembly elections. She frequently visited the constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi, where she interacted directly with the residents. This involvement made her a known figure with significant support in these areas, leading to the election slogan in Amethi, "Amethi ka Danka, Bitiya Priyanka" (the clarion call from Amethi is for Priyanka to stand for elections).[11]
Political debut
Priyanka (right) and brother Rahul (left), in an election rally in 2019.
On 23 January 2019, she formally entered politics after being appointed as the AICC General Secretary in charge of the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and then as the General Secretary in charge of the entire state of Uttar Pradesh[12] on 11 September 2020.[13]
In October 2021, Gandhi Vadra was detained twice by the UP Police.[14] The first detention followed her visit to Lakhimpur Kheri in western UP where eight people were killed following clashes between protesting farmers and the convey of Union Minister Ajay Misra's son.[15] She and several other party leaders were detained at a PAC guest house in Sitapur, which was being used as a temporary jail to keep them for over 50 hrs.[15] The second detention tool place in the district of Agra where the UP Police detained her citing a ban on gatherings, while on her way to Agra to meet the family members of a man who allegedly died in police custody.[16]
2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections
Gandhi Vadra launched the Congress party's Uttar Pradesh poll campaign from Barabanki on 23 October 2021.[17][18]
In January 2022, she launched the Congress's manifesto for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election along with her brother Rahul. The manifesto was focused on youth and women empowerment along with development for the state and also promised 40% of tickets to women in upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.[19][20]
Pivoting the campaign on women's empowerment and participation in politics, she kickstarted the "Ladki hoon, Lad Sakti hoon" campaign in the state. On the day of International Women's Day, she launched a rally in the state's capital Lucknow which, laced with several promises and hopes, saw the participation of women from all over the state.[21]
Despite all her attempts to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party faced a rout in the assembly elections; winning just 2 out of the 403 assembly seats. Gandhi Vadra resigned as AICC General Secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh in December 2023.[22]
Following the Congress' defeat in the state elections, on 5 August 2022, she took part in Congress's ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ protest against price-rise and inflation and was detained by the Delhi Police.[23]
Member of Parliament
After extensively campaigning for the Congress during the 2024 Indian general election and taking a more organisational role within the party, Gandhi Vadra announced that she would join electoral politics and contest as the party's candidate for the Wayanadbypoll, to succeed her brother, Rahul.[24][25] She won the election by a margin of 4,10,931 votes.[26][27][28] She will serve in Parliament alongside her mother Sonia and brother Rahul. She and her brother are the only sibling duo serving together in the 18th Lok Sabha.[29]
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