BJP Claims Congress Split Into Rahul and Priyanka Camps: Sambit Patra Says Priyanka Vadra Sidelined

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday claimed that the Congress has divided into two camps, one led by Rahul Gandhi and the other by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and accused the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha of sidelining his sister at two INDIA bloc protests in Delhi. The claim was made by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in a video message, and echoed by party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, in the BJP’s counter to the opposition alliance’s weekend campaign over alleged electoral irregularities. Patra said Priyanka Vadra was not given an opportunity to speak at the mock parliament organised by the Congress on Saturday, and that the same happened again at the INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, where several other leaders spoke. He said she appeared unhappy at both events, and asked whether a political game was being played within the Gandhi family, and whether Rahul Gandhi feared being sidelined if Priyanka Vadra were projected as a leader. Summing up his charge in a phrase that has since been widely quoted, Patra asked whether Priyanka Vadra’s vote had also been stolen within the Gandhi family itself. Bhandari made a similar charge, saying separate Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi camps were emerging within the Congress and accusing the Leader of the Opposition of suppressing his sister’s rise. He said Priyanka Vadra, who serves as the Congress general secretary, was seated in the second row and was not allowed to speak at either event, despite her senior position in the party. The BJP’s remarks came against the backdrop of the INDIA bloc’s own weekend protests. On Saturday, the alliance held a symbolic public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the right to vote was under threat and that the poll panel was functioning at the behest of the Modi government. On Sunday, the alliance held a large rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi against alleged electoral irregularities and the revision of voter lists, with its leaders calling for the BJP’s ouster and demanding action against the election commissioner. The BJP has rejected those charges, and its spokespeople used the two protests to turn the argument back on the Congress, questioning why one of its most senior leaders did not address either gathering. The episode underlines how the rival campaigns over voter lists and the Election Commission have now spilled into a war of words over the internal politics of the Congress itself, with the BJP presenting Priyanka Vadra’s silence at the two events as evidence of a rift, and the opposition alliance continuing to press its case against the government and the poll panel.