Finally, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joins politics ahead of Lok Sabha Polls, named Congress in-charge of eastern UP

NEW DELHI: Finally, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday appointed his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as party General Secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls.nnPriyanka was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.nnShe was also instrumental in initiating the entry of Manpreet Badal and Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Punjab Congress.nn

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Appointment of General Secretaries for All India Congress Committee. pic.twitter.com/zHENwt6Ckh

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nnShe will take charge in the first week of February, according to Congress statement.nnShe will take over her new assignment in the politically crucial state — a Congress bastion till the mid 1980s.nnThe appointment is being seen as a masterstroke which will boost the morale of party workers in a state where Congress influence has been waning over the years and where the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have announced a tie-up.nnPriyanka who turned 47 on January 12, will assist her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the Hindi heartland state, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the largest of any state in the country.nnThere had been speculation over her entry into active politics and the party and her mother Sonia Gandhi had said that she would take the plunge when she decides so.nnBeside Priyanka, Rahul also appointed senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia as All India Congress Committee general secretary for Uttar Pradesh West.nnPriyanka Gandhi and Scindia replace Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been appointed AICC general secretary for Haryana, where the party is divided into factions.nnThe Congress chief appointed K C Venugopal as general secretary organisation. He replaces Ashok Gehlot, who has since become chief minister of Rajasthan.nnVenugopal will continue to be AICC general secretary for Karnataka, where the party is in power with the Janata Dal-Secular.nnWho is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra?nnPriyanka  is the daughter of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, and granddaughter of Feroze and Indira Gandhi, making her a member of the wider Nehru-Gandhi family.nnShe did her schooling from the Modern School and Convent of Jesus & Mary, and pursued her graduation in Psychology from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. Priyanka completed her Psychology degree and later on did her MA in Buddhist studies in 2010.nnShe is married to Robert Vadra, a businessman from Delhi. The wedding took place at the Gandhi home, 10 Janpath, on 18 February 1997 in a traditional Hindu ceremony.They have two children; a son Raihan and a daughter Miraya. Priyanka is converted to Buddhism.She follows Buddhist philosophy and a practitioner of Vipassan? as taught by S. N. Goenka.