Rahul bats, Priyanka fields, Varun bowls

In the absence of their mother Sonia Gandhi, who is abroad recuperating from a surgery, Priyanka, seated in the first row, was all ears when Rahul was for the first time making a statement in the House on the ongoing agitation of civil rights activist Anna Hazare for a strong Lokpal bill.

Wearing a red-printed sari, the 39-year-old Gandhi-Nehru scion tried to avoid media glare and give journalists the slip. When chased by some scribes, Priyanka said she fully endorsed what her brother said in the Lok Sabha.

Rahul, on his part, claimed that his speech in the Lok Sabha was a“gamechanger”. Asked about her mother, Priyanka said “she is doing well and may return soon.”

The Congress president whose absence is being strongly felt by a section of the party as it  continued to shift and shuffle with its strategy on the civil rights agitation at Ramlila grounds in the national capital.

Unlike her brother, Priyanka  did not make any comment on Hazare’s anti-graft protest and walked away smiling, leaving the question unattended.

On the other side of the Gandhi family tree, cousin and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi broke ranks with his own party and joined the Hazare supporters at Ramlila grounds, this week. Varun has also moved a private member’s bill supporting Jan Lokpal bill of Team Anna in the lower house.