Priyanka Gandhi on why she's not contesting against PM Modi from Varanasi

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday broke her silence as to why she is not contesting from Varanasi against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Photo: Twitter

NEW DELHI: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday broke her silence as to why she is not contesting from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The Congress decided to field Ajay Rai from Varanasi to take on Modi. The announcement was made by the party last week, ending speculation on a possible blockbuster electoral duel between Priyanka Gandhi and PM Modi in the Uttar Pradesh's temple town. Talking about not contesting from Varanasi, Priyanka said she sought the advice of senior Congress leaders and other party colleagues, who felt she has a greater responsibility on her shoulders of looking after 41 seats in eastern Uttar Pradesh, of which she has been given the charge. "I took advice of all senior leaders of our party and colleagues in Uttar Pradesh. They firmly felt that I have responsibility here of looking after 41 seats. I felt that they (candidates)would be disappointed if I focused on only one place," ANI quoted Priyanka as saying. Last week, Congress leader Sam Pitroda said it was Priyanka Gandhi's own decision not to contest against Modi. "The party president had left the final decision on her," Pitroda said when reporters asked him about Rahul Gandhi not fielding his sister from the high-profile constituency. "She decided that she has several responsibilities. She decided that rather than concentrating on one seat, she should focus on the job she has at hand," Pitroda, who heads the Indian Overseas Congress, said. "So that decision was finally hers and she decided it," he said. Speculation on Priyanka making her political debut from Varanasi was fuelled after Congress president Rahul Gandhi, to a question on whether he planned to field his sister against PM Modi, said last week, "I will leave you in suspense. Suspense is not always a bad thing." Also, the latest entrant from the Nehru-Gandhi family had last month sent ripples across the political spectrum after her swift riposte "Why not Varanasi" to the party workers' request to contest elections from her mother Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also targeted the Congress saying he was "disappointed" by the party's decision of not fielding Priyanka Gandhi against Modi after building up a "suspense for an eventual thriller" in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, Modi won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, defeating Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh vote. Modi polled 5,16,593 votes -- about half the total votes -- while Congress' Ajay Rai finished third.  Rai is the Congress candidate again this time from the constituency that goes to the polls on May 19. The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections started on April 11 and would conclude on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23. So far, voting has been completed for four of the seven phases. Polling was held on Monday for 72 Lok Sabha seats spread across nine states in the fourth phase. In the first three phases, election was held to 91, 96 and 117 seats on April 11, April 18, April 23 respectively. Polling for the fifth phase will be held on May 6.