“Our camp was abuzz till yesterday that he would come back today. But this has not happened. We have been told he is returning on January 9. This is shocking as when all other parties are in campaign mode, our senior leader is holidaying,” a ticket seeker in Delhi had told the Indian Express.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, ex-BJP leader, has also expressed his desire to join the Congress in the presence of Gandhi. The fiery orator, who left the BJP months ago, will most likely fight the elections from Amritsar East, a constituency currently held by his wife.
Gandhi’s absence from the political scene also came at a time when the ruling SP in Uttar Pradesh has been locked in a bitter power struggle between factions led by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh. Although earlier reports indicated Akhilesh, in the event of a split from his father, would ally with the Congress, that estimation seems premature now that the SP leader has been named the party’s chief ministerial candidate.
In the five states going to polls this summer, Congress holds power in Manipur and Uttarakhand.
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(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
