Priyanka Vadra (née Gandhi; born 12 January 1972) is an Indian politician, daughter of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. She is the granddaughter of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, and is a member of the wider Nehru-Gandhi family.
Political career
At a 1999 campaign, she said in an interview with the 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".[1] 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..."
She has however continued to regularly visit her mother's and brother's constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi where she dealt with the people directly. 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]).
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.
| Priyanka Vadra प्रियंका वाड्रा | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 12 January 1972 Delhi, India |
| Residence | Delhi, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Delhi University (B.A.) |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Vadra |
| Parent(s) | Rajiv Gandhi (father) Sonia Gandhi (mother) |
| Relatives | Rahul Gandhi (brother) |
| Signature | |
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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.
On the whole, the Congress party was routed in the state, managing 22 seats out of 402, 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.
Personal life
She is married to Robert Vadra, a businessman from Delhi. The wedding took place at the Gandhi home, 10 Janpath, on 18 February 1997 in a traditional Hinduceremony.[citation needed][3][4] They have two children. Priyanka Gandhi is a follower of Buddhist philosophy and a practitioner of Vipassanā as taught by S. N. Goenka.
