New Delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who made her election debut by winning the Lok Sabha by-election from Kerala’s Wayanad, will take oath as a Member of Parliament today, joining her brother Rahul and mother Sonia Gandhi in the House. Priyanka won the seat by a thumping margin of over four lakh votes, surpassing her brother Rahul Gandhi’s victory margin in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The by-election was necessiated in Wayanad after Rahul Gandhi, who won from both Wayanad and Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha elections this year, chose to pick the latter seat.
With Priyanka's victory, for the first time in decades, all three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family — Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka — are now in Parliament.
"I will make sure that over time, you truly feel this victory has been your victory and the person you chose to represent you understands your hopes and dreams and fights for you as one of your own," Priyanka, who is also the Congress general secretary, said in a post on X.
In her post, Priyanka Gandhi also thanked her colleagues in the UDF, leaders from across Kerala, workers, volunteers and everyone else who supported her and worked "incredibly hard" in her poll campaign, by "tolerating" her "12 hour a day (no food, no rest) car journeys, and for fighting like true soldiers for the ideals we all believe in".
"To my mother, Robert and my two jewels- Raihan and Miraya, no gratitude is ever enough for the love and courage you give me. And to my brother, Rahul, you are the bravest of them all… thank you for showing me the way and having my back, always," she said.
Sonia Gandhi was elected to the Rajya Sabha after she decided to not contest the 2024 general elections from Rae Bareli. Her children, Rahul and Priyanka, will now sit in Lok Sabha.
Priyanka now joins a list of MPs who have at least one family member in either house of the Parliament. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav are both members of the Lok Sabha. While Yadav won from Kannauj in the Lok Sabha elections, his wife was elected from the Mainpuri seat in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav's cousin, Akshay Yadav was elected to Lok Sabha from the Ferozabad seat, while his other cousin, Dharmendra Yadav, won from Badaun. The Akhilesh Yadav family is also related to Lalu Yadav's family.
Likewise, Maharashtra veteran Sharad Pawar is an incumbent member of Rajya Sabha since 2014 while his daughter, Supriya Sule, is a sitting Member of Parliament from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra.
Priyanka Gandhi's entry into Parliament, however, comes at a difficult time for the party, which has been jolted by electoral defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra. It would be interesting to see if she is able to give a much-needed fillip to the grand old party and help put it back on the electoral track.
Often drawing comparisons with her grandmother Indira Gandhi for their similarity in looks and way of speaking, Priyanka Gandhi has been the go-to campaigner for the party since her entry into active politics and even before that when she campaigned for her mother Sonia and brother Rahul.
With inputs from PTI