New Delhi: Even as the Congress activists got into a celebratory mode after news broke of Priyanka Vadra, wife of embattled businessman Robert Vadra, formally entering politics while she was appointed Congress general secretary in-charge of politically volatile eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP greeted her with a sardonic “welcome”.

Inviting her to measure swords with the saffron outfit, the state's BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan said Priyanka Vadra was a novice and that she had much to learn before she could even think of turning the tables on the party ruling the country and Uttar Pradesh. Ironically, he said, there is no time left for learning the ropes.

“We welcome her (Priyanka Vadra) to Indian politics. While she was earlier informally associated with politics of the Gandhi family, now she has come out in the open and taken up the mantle of the dynasty,” Mohan told MyNation.

Attacking the Congress, the spokesperson said the Congress was a private limited company and Vadra just another chapter to it. “First their mother Sonia Gandhi ran the family business called the Congress; the brother entered thereafter and now Priyanka Vadra has joined it as a director,” he quipped.

Taking a dig at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Mohan said the very fact that the Congress had pushed Vadra to the hustings was an admission of defeat. “The Congress, by fielding Vadra, has conceded defeat in the 2019 polls even before the commencement of campaigning,” Mohan said.

“This is a tacit acceptance of the fact that Rahul Gandhi has failed in politics. Also, Priyanka Vadra has been introduced but on a limited basis, in eastern UP only, which appears to be on a pilot basis. Perhaps the Congress does not want to waste both the siblings at once,” Mohan added.

The BJP seized the opportunity by raising the issue of a “tainted” family background of the Vadra family.  “Robert Vadra, Priyanka’s husband, is in the middle of several land scams and cases pertaining to money laundering and receiving kickbacks in deals struck during the UPA regime. First, Mrs Vadra needs to answer whether she partook of any of the proceeds of that black money, being Robert's wife. She should first come clean on corruption by her family,” Mohan quipped.