Priyanka Gandhi Arrives in Prayagraj to Kick-start Election Campaign with Boat Rally to Varanasi

Lucknow: The Congress’s eastern UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Prayagraj on Monday morning to kick-start her Ganga Yatra boat rally to Varanasi after meeting party workers, madrasa teachers and anganwadi workers at the party’s Lucknow office on Sunday.

Priyanka, who was welcomed by Congress workers amid chants of “Dahan Karo Modi Ki Lanka, Behen Priyanka Behen Priyanka”, tweeted an image of the room at Swaraj Bhawan where her grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi was born. “While sitting at the Swaraj Bhawan I can see the room where my grandmother was born. While putting me to sleep at night, she used to tell me stories of Joan of Arc. Her words still echo in my heart. She used to tell me to be brave and everything good would happen,” she wrote.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Priyanka will start her election campaign from Prayagraj with a programme titled ‘Sanchi Baat, Priyanka Ke Saath’, where she will meet and speak to people on a steamer ride from Prayagraj to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi. The 140km ride will last for about three days before culminating at a Holi Milan function in Varanasi.

After officially launching the campaign from Manaiyya Ghat in Prayagraj at around 9am, Priyanka will then head to Dumdama Ghat at 11am. At around 12pm, she will reach Sirsa Ghat and hold another round of talks, followed by a programme at Lakshagrah Ghat at 1pm. Her final stop for the day will be at Sitamarhi Ghat in Bhadohi district at around 4pm, where she will stay for the night.

On Sunday, Priyanka wrote in an open letter that “as a soldier of the Congress, it is my responsibility is to join hands with you for changing the current politics of Uttar Pradesh. The youth, farmers and working class are facing problems and we want to share their pain”.

During her day-long stay at Lucknow, Priyanka met delegations of potato farmers, Urdu teachers, anganwadi workers and employee unions who have been strongly demanding the old pension scheme for government employees.