Raj Babbar appointed Congress chief in UP, no word on Priyanka Gandhi`s role

New Delhi: Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday confirmed that Rajya Sabha MP Raj Babbar has been appointed as the new Uttar Pradesh Congress committee president.

Azad was recently appointed incharge of the poll bound Uttar Pradesh.

Amid speculation about her assuming a bigger role in the party ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls in UP, Priyanka Gandhi today met senior leader Azad at his residence in the national capital.

Party sources said Priyanka had an hour-long meeting with Azad at his residence here.

However, while interacting with media persons, the senior Congress leader didn't comment anything on Priyanka's role in the crucial 2017 UP elections.

Reports have been doing rounds that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's daughter and Robert Vadra's wife's and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit would soon join the battlefield in the Hindi heartland.

Dikshit, a Brahmin face, is expected to be announced as Congress' chief ministerial candidate.

Earlier reports had suggested that master strategist Prashant Kishor, who has been roped in by the Congress to bring back its golden days in Uttar Pradesh, had favoured Priyanka to take lead in the 2017 state election.

The 2017 UP elections are a litmus test for the Congress vice president as the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party is certain to go all guns blazing to win the state, which sends maximum MPs to the Lok Sabha.