'Can Give My Life for Him': Priyanka Gandhi Laughs Off BJP's Sibling Rivalry Jibe With Message for Rahul

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday responded to allegations of ‘sibling rivalry’ leveled by chief minister Yogi Adityanath and said “I can give my life for my brother and so can he for me, so where is the infighting?” It’s the BJP that is facing infighting between Yogi Adityanath, PM Modi, and HM Shah and not Congress, she added.

This is not the first time the siblings have stood as support for each other. Earlier in January during a Facebook live, Priyanka said she used to have lots of fights with her brother Rahul Gandhi in childhood and a great democracy exists in their family where everyone contributes to decision-making. She added that after the assassination of her grandmother, she had her education at home and during that phase of loneliness, she and Rahul Gandhi had lots of fights and friendships. “If any outsider came and fought, we used to fight as a team,” she said.

After the siblings were pulled out of regular school, Avnita Bir, who used to teach at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in New Delhi in the late 1980s, was brought in to help the siblings. Bir told Economic Times that her memory is of Priyanka being completely in control, self-assured, also more poised and confident. “She was like the quintessential older sibling, responsible, protective and had a mature sense of wit and humour. She was the more reserved of the two. She listened more, a girl of fewer words. Rahul was more interactive during the lessons and was curious, asked questions,” she told ET.

Bir also mentioned about Priyanka being ‘protective’ about her brother and the close bond between the siblings. “I personally feel that the siblings standing together, supporting each other through all times… sends a strong positive message of family values. It makes me very happy to see them together today and work together shoulder to shoulder,” she further told ET.

Rahul Gandhi has also been seen supporting his sister’s decisions of joining politics in later years of her life. Speaking in Bhubaneswar during The Odisha Dialogue in 2019, he said “I kept on asking her to join politics, but her pushback to that was that her children were young and she needed to be with them. And she decided to enter politics now that both her children were grown up.”

The political ups and downs in the Gandhi family seems to have played a major role in the siblings’ connection. “We have been through hell together. Everybody thinks all is easy for us but we have seen some very hard situations. That has brought us together,” Rahul Gandhi said during the same conference.

In 2021, wishing his followers on Raksha Bandhan, Rahul Gandhi took everyone a trip down memory lane as he shared a photo collage including two pictures from when the brother-sister duo was young, while the third seemed to be a recent click. In a note, Gandhi said the two had been each other’s “friend and protector”.

The siblings often wish each on social media on various occasions and share photos. “I have learned love, truth and patience from my brother while living with him through happiness and sorrow. I am proud to have such a brother,” Priyanka Gandhi had said in a tweet last year.

Rahul Gandhi is one year elder to sister Priyanka Gandhi. Currently, Priyanka has been working actively to revive the idea of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, while Rahul is a Wayanad MP and remains active in leading the party. From political rallies to various festive occasions, the two Congress leaders are frequently seen sharing the stage.

Punjab govt was being run by BJP from Centre: Priyanka Gandhi

Without naming Captain Amarinder Singh, a longtime loyalist to the Gandhis, Priyanka said “something was going wrong” and, hence, the Congress decided to change the leadership in Punjab. She said it was changed as it was “being run by the BJP from the Centre”.

During her election campaign in Punjab on Sunday, she said, “We got Charanjit Singh Channi, who is one among you. He knows and feels your issues.”

Amarinder Singh stepped down as Punjab CM in September last year. He has now formed his own party, Punjab Lok Congress, and allied with the BJP to contest the upcoming assembly elections.

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