Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that Rahul Gandhi has made Uttar Pradesh his “special turf” and the party’s heavy reliance on him in the Assembly polls there will prove to be a “risk worth taking”. At the same time, he said it will “not be the end of the road” for Mr Gandhi if the Congress does not perform well in the Assembly elections in the politically-crucial state.
The former Union minister and the sitting Rajya Sabha member downplayed the presence of Robert Vadra in the campaigning saying he is doing it as a member of the family, but said he will welcome the Gandhi family’s son-in-law as an MP if he wins elections.
“Rahul Gandhi has made Uttar Pradesh his special particular turf. So, he is very visible there and makes occasional foray elsewhere,” he told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate.
Asked whether heavy reliance of Mr Gandhi in UP will undermine the image of the young leader as it is a “high-risk strategy”, Mr Aiyar said, “Of course. You will never win if you don’t take risk. During the course of it, it will be proved that it is a risk worth taking.”
“Yes. But it is not the end of the road. But if the party wins it will be the opening of the gate (for him),” he said when asked whether the Congress’ defeat in Uttar Pradesh will be a setback to Mr Gandhi.
He called the Nehru-Gandhi family as a “bonding adhesive” of the party and its “biggest asset”.
He dismissed suggestions that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has taken a “back seat” in the campaigning for Uttar Pradesh elections, saying she is continuing to campaign in the manner she has been doing since long. “I could have easily been brought in as an elected candidate in which case I could have been a candidate for ministership. It was to be sure that I did not become a minister that I was made a nominated member,” he said to a question that he was nominated to the RS just because he was a loyalist of the family despite losing elections.