NEW DELHI: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will campaign only in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Congress said on Monday putting at rest speculation about her larger role in electioneering across the country for the Lok Sabha polls. 

Party sources, however, said that she will coordinate the countrywide tour programmes of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. 

"She will campaign only in Rae Bareli and Amethi," AICC general secretary and chairman of communication department Ajay Maken said replying to queries. 

Priyanka's meeting with top Congress leaders earlier this week at the residence of her brother Rahul had created a flutter in political circles, triggering speculation whether she is in for a major role ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. 

Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, Union minister Jairam Ramesh, AICC general secretaries Madhusudan Mistri, Janardan Dwivedi, Ajay Maken and party ideologue Mohan Gopal were present in the meeting. 

There was speculation on whether Priyanka will assume an active political role to perk up Congress performance in the elections, particularly in the context of the recent drubbing it received in the assembly polls. 

Congress had since then, however, downplayed the issue of Priyanka's presence at the meeting, saying she has been active in Congress politics and questioned the surprise in political circles over her interaction with senior leaders. 

There has also been talk in recent months on whether Priyanka, who has so far confined her politics to campaigning for her mother in Rae Bareli, would take a plunge into politics full time. 

At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Raj Babbar said, "The matter ends if the chairman of the communication department has given a statement. The chairman has told you about the decision of the party. There is no need to say anything further on it." 

He was replying to a query on Maken's statement regarding Priyanka not campaigning beyond Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Allahabad: In yet another indication of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s growing popularity, the saints attending the Dharma Sansad organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday openly backed his candidature for the Prime Minister’s post.

According to reports, two prominent saints, including Ramanujacharya and Vasudevacharya, demanded Modi to be made BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls.

Addressing the Dharma Sansad, saint Ramanujacharya said, “Neither UPA, nor NDA, we just want Modi to become the prime minister.”

The saints attending the Dharma Sansad feel that Modi’e elevation as the Prime Minister will pave the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple, which was once the main political plank of the BJP.

Earlier, senior VHP leader Ashok Singhal had openly backed Modi as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, although his organization is split over making the Gujarat Chief Minister as its choice for 2014 polls.

The growing support for Modi at the ‘Dharma Sansad’ is crucial since it is being attended by top leaders of the RSS, VHP and other religious heads. 

While Singhal’s support for Modi is being seen as an attempt by the VHP to mend ties with him given the increasing clamour in his support, other leaders in the VHP, most notably Praveen Togadia, have not yet spoken on the issue.

Singhal recently said that Modi is as popular as India’s first Prime Minister JL Nehru; however, Togadia has been categorical that he will not talk about one person or one party.

Though Modi has not been invited to the RSS-VHP meet at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, the firebrand politician has been at the core of the deliberations, reports said.

Despite being a RSS product, the relations between the Gujarat Chief Minister and the VHP have been edgy till recently owing to the perceived cold war between Modi and Togadia over the erosion of once strong base of VHP in Gujarat.