Priyanka follows Nehru-Gandhi footsteps

NEW DELHI: India’s Priyanka Gandhi officially entered politics on Wednesday ahead of a looming national election, joining the opposition campaign in a crucial state where the party her family founded hopes to unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Priyanka -- whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers -- was appointed Congress party chief in the east of Uttar Pradesh, considered India’s most politically important state.

She will report to her brother Rahul, a fellow scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, who heads the main opposition party that ruled India for much of its post-independence history. Priyanka, 47, is popular within Congress but the reigns were passed to her older brother Rahul when their mother Sonia stepped back from the helm in 2017.

Rahul, 48, said he was "very happy that my sister, who is very capable and hardworking, will now work with me", as Congress campaigns in a tough election expected by May.

"Congress is not going to be on (the) back foot. It will be on the front foot," the opposition leader told reporters. Priyanka is expected to assume her duties in February, the party said in a statement.