Self-goal by Priyanka Vadra in Varanasi
The Congress seems to be a mysterious chemical blend. Half of its behaviour is predictable according to logic and pragmatic sense, or can be read in those terms post facto. The other half is mercurial, unpredictable, lacking in strategic nous.
Why did Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have to go public with a barely concealed desire to go for the big-ticket contest against PM Narendra Modi from Varanasi if it was not yet a sure thing? Could she have possibly done so without conferring within the family beforehand, in the manner of a petulant satrap putting pressure on the high command? And once she had done so, and hype had been built up, why then decide against it and give the impression of ‘chickening out’?
Risk-averse behaviour, to describe it mildly, is not exactly the mark of confidence. The crude and less charitable views ranged around the old gossip about a subtle sibling rivalry - the potential for a charismatic Priyanka to outshine her brother Rahul at a time when he has hit a certain rhythm himself. The more finely grained opinion has it that the family did consider it seriously, weighed the pros and cons, and decided the negatives were far too many.
If Priyanka contested from Varanasi, all of Uttar Pradesh’s energy field would get concentrated around that one contest, it would galvanise the RSS cadres like never before, and the heat would have spread to some 10-15 neighbouring constituencies where the Congress does not have the firepower, and overall that would have been to the detriment of the SP-BSP gathbandhan, which is fighting the real fight. Hence, the abdication.
All of it makes sense, but the original question remains. Why speak about it at all, and then disappoint everyone (including the BJP) by going with the local nobody? Long after other questions find answers, the anti-climax of a Modi-Priyanka no-show will likely linger as an enduring enigma.