Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met Congress UP in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad today
Priyanka Gandhi's visit to the residence of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence on Tuesday afternoon and their discussions, more than an hour long, have renewed speculation about the role she will play in the party's campaign in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections to be held early next year.
Mr Azad is the Congress leader in charge of UP.
A lead role for Priyanka Gandhi is the buzz so far, which is understood to mean that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's daughter will this time campaign beyond Rae Bareli and Amethi, the parliamentary constituencies of her mother and brother, Rahul Gandhi, who is the party's vice president.
Sources have said this time Priyanka, 44, is expected to lead rallies across the state. An announcement is expected soon along with one on who will be the party's candidate for chief minister. The fore-runner is said to be 78-year-old Sheila Dikshit, who served three times as Delhi chief minister.
The Uttar Pradesh election is a high-stakes contest with parties looking at the result as a key indicator of how they could fare in the 2019 national elections.
For the Congress that means lifting itself out of a political low in the state and it has sought the help of master election strategist Prashant Kishor, who is credited with constructing winning campaigns for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 national election and Bihar's Nitish Kumar in state elections last year.
The BJP alleges that by appointing Priyanka Gandhi to lead its campaign in UP the Congress will admit that her brother, Rahul, is not a match winner.
Rahul Gandhi had led the Congress's campaign in the 2014 national election, which saw the Congress plunge to its lowest tally ever in Parliament. In many state elections held after that, the Congress has relinquished control to the BJP and its allies.