Uttar Pradesh: Priyanka Gandhi denies she is CM face

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday denied that she is Congress' chief ministerial face in the upcoming assembly polls just a day after she declared herself in that role.

Vadra claimed she was not serious when she made that comment but was only expressing her irritation at media quarries.

"I am not saying that I am the (CM) face (of Congress in the Uttar Pradesh elections)... I said that ("you can see my face everywhere" when asked who will be the party's CM face) in irritation because you all (media persons) were asking the same question again and again," she clarified to a news agency.

Vadra's overnight U-turn came amid growing whispers in Congress circles that her Friday's public declaration at an AICC press conference amounted to tying herself in knots as Congress performance in the assembly polls will be seen as a formal popular rating of her leadership.

The UP Congress has already suffered two huge electoral debacle - in 2017 assembly elections and 2019 Lok Sabha polls - under Vadra's stewardship, and many feel it is headed for another drubbing. Congress circles see her clarification as her personal damage-control exercise..

Even as Vadra was doing the U-turn, the UP Congress witnessed more desertions with former party MP Praveen Singh Aron and his wife joining SP amid reports that AICC functionary RPN Singh too is weighing his options.