Priyanka’s Poll Plunge Puts Spotlight Back On ‘Vadra Factor’
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For the BJP, Robert Vadra has become a poster boy of the corruption narrative and controversies surrounding the Gandhi family
Robert Vadra with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. (File photo/AP)
“I am targeted for being linked to the Gandhi family.” This is the angst of Robert Vadra, a businessman known more for his relations with the Gandhi family. And each time, elections are around the corner, Vadra claims his name crops up only as a political punching bag.
A fitness freak and social service activist, Robert Vadra has often expressed his interest in joining politics “at the right time”. But for the BJP, he has become a poster boy of the corruption narrative and controversies surrounding the Gandhi family. In fact, many say that one of the reasons for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s reluctance to take the electoral plunge was the concern that he would be targeted. And this has happened as she filed her nomination papers from Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
But the BJP says that Vadra has much to answer for and that he as the “damaad” (son-in-law) reaped the financial benefits.
Many of the controversies have forced Robert Vadra to cut himself off from his family. Like in 2002, when word spread that his late father and uncle were asking for tickets for their friends, Robert Vadra quickly issued a statement distancing himself from his father.
But many allegations surfaced and continued to be raked up despite the fact that there is no conviction or legal case against him now. Like the DLF land deal, several sweetheart land deals in Haryana when Bhupinder Hooda was the chief minister, and links to the controversial arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.
The Congress and the Gandhis have been very nuanced and careful in their response to these allegations. In very rare cases the party has officially defended Robert Vadra, preferring to maintain the line that he is a private citizen and that the Congress had nothing to do with his work.
But for the BJP this is a disconnect which it is not convinced with. Crushing Vadra ticks many boxes for the BJP. Especially now with his wife Priyanka seemingly all set to enter Parliament, Vadra for the BJP epitomises the corruption in the Congress, the weak spot for the Gandhi siblings, and also question the credentials of Rahul as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
As a BJP leader said, “As long as the Gandhis have Vadra, we have a trump card.”
