Congress downplays Priyanka Gandhi's presence in a meeting at Rahul Gandhi's home

NEW DELHI: The Congress today sought to play down the presence of Priyanka Gandhi in a meeting of party leaders at the residence of her brother Rahul at his residence here this morning that had created flutters.

"Priyanka Gandhi is a member of an important political family. May be she is not seen as participating in active politics but she is an active member of Congress for long.

"She has her own opinions on political issues and she has been discussing with party workers from time to time. What is the matter of surprise if she has talked to senior leaders of the party on these issues," Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters at the daily AICC briefing.

Senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Janardan Dwivedi, along with half a dozen other general secretaries, were holding a meeting at the party Vice President's house when Priyanka dropped in. She was there for around five minutes.

There has been speculation in recent months on whether Priyanka, who has so far confined her politics to campaign for her mother Sonia Gandhi in Raebareli, would take a plunge into politics full time.

Her participating in the meeting today fuelled further speculation.

Party sources downplayed the speculation saying," the meeting was to discuss the tour programme of Congress President and Congress Vice President in the coming weeks and Priyankaji just walked in towards the end of the meeting."