india

Updated: Jan 24, 2019 20:21 IST

Terming Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as’s entry into active politics as an internal matter of the Congress, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not consider Congress as a major challenge in Uttar Pradesh.

The reaction came a day after All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi appointed his sister Priyanka as the general secretary in-charge of east UP which has about 30 parliamentary constituencies, including Varanasi, the Lok Sabha seat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an informal interaction with media persons during his three-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Lucknow, Rajnath said: “The NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has executed several developmental projects that were pending for over a decade. Congress is no match to BJP. People have realised that we are working to take the country ahead.”

Also read: Senior Congress leaders were unaware of Priyanka Gandhi’s political move

“We don’t consider Congress a challenge in UP. This (Priyanka’s appointment as AICC general secretary of east UP) is their internal matter,” Singh said.

BJP has been dubbing the entry of Priyanka into politics as a failure of Rahul, who has been vociferously attacking the PM in his speeches.

Union minister Manoj Sinha, who is Lok Sabha MP from Ghazipur in eastern UP, said Piyanka’s appointment is an attempt by the Congress to gain some importance in the state as it was left in a “bad shape” after being left out of the SP-BSP alliance.