Paving the way for the mother of all battles in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress general secretary and East UP in-charge Priyanka Vadra Gandhi has made up her mind to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, as per her close confidante. Varanasi will go to polls on May 19.

Priyanka confidant and Congress leader in UP Legislative Council Deepak Singh on Friday added the final call would be taken by party chief Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka’s candidature would be announced “soon”.

Singh said, “Priyankaji is an Iron Lady akin to her grandmother Indira Gandhi. She has made up her mind to take on Modi to give out a clear message to voters that the time of ‘change’ has come. She will defeat Modi by exposing that as MP of Varanasi, he not only cheated his constituency but also the entire country.”

Singh said a Congress survey team has been camping in Varanasi to draw a campaign strategy.

Besides, Priyanka is said to have formed a formidable team of 1,000 youngsters, who will strike at Varanasi after elections in Amethi and Rae Bareli, where Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are contesting to retain their traditional seats.

Earlier, Priyanka herself speculated about the ‘big fight’ by asking party workers in Amethi, whether she should contest from Varanasi.

During her Gana Yatra from Prayagraj to Varanasi, she viciously attacked Modi for poor work in Varanasi and expressed willingness to contesting from the Temple City.

Subsequently, brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi backed his sister’s willingness to take on Modi and did not rule out the possibility. A similar line was taken by Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra who recently told newspersons in Amethi that the Varanasi contest was very much on the cards.

Barely two days back, State Congress chief Raj Babbar during an interview, without dismissing the possibility, said that he could reply on the issue when the Gandhi family had kept it a ‘closely guarded suspense’.