Day After Teasing Poll Battle Against Modi, Priyanka Gandhi Says Ready to Contest From Anywhere

Ayodhya: A day after teasing a contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said she was ready to fight the elections from anywhere her party desires.

When asked to clarify if she was keen on fighting from Varanasi, she said, "If the party will ask, I am ready to contest from anywhere."

Gandhi had on Thursday triggered wild speculation across political and media circles with her off-hand remark that she was open to contesting from Varanasi, from where Modi is the sitting MP and will be contesting again this year.

Responding to party workers who asked urged her to fight the polls from Varanasi, Gandhi had said in jest, “Why not Varanasi?”

The Congress general secretary, who had joined politics only in January this year, did nothing to temper the speculations and only heightened it with her remarks in Faizabad on Friday as she pitted herself directly against Modi.

From slamming him for his numerous foreign tours to not depositing Rs 15 lakh in accounts of the citizens as promised, or “eating Biriyani in Pakistan”, she was relentless in her attack at the PM.

Amid the ‘will she, won’t she’ debate on Gandhi’s poll debut, the Congress leader had on Wednesday said she would contest elections if her party asks her.

"If my party asks me to contest the polls, I will definitely do so. But my personal wish is to work for the party's organisation as a lot of work needs to be done," the Congress leader had told reporters.

"I have told party workers that it is very important you campaign properly this election. You should go to each and every house, and tell people that this election is to save the nation. Not Rahul Gandhi, but the nation should win this election."

She, however, said that no decision has been made yet, with the election just a fortnight away.

Priyanka Gandhi was earlier speculated to contest from Rae Bareli as she has extensively campaigned for her mother Sonia Gandhi there previously. But Sonia Gandhi has decided to contest the elections again, ending rumours of her retirement from active politics.