Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress’ general secretary for east Uttar Pradesh, will begin her two-day river journey from the holy city of Prayagraj on Monday to launch the party’s poll campaign in the region of the politically-crucial state that sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.
Priyanka Gandhi will begin her journey after offering prayers at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati, in Prayagraj on Monday morning before going to to Varanasi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha.
“I will undertake the journey by river route, bus, train and also go on padyatra and reach out to you through all the means. Ganga is a symbol of truth and equality and is an embodiment of Ganga-Jamuni culture. Ganga does not discriminate among the people. Ganga is a support for people of Uttar Pradesh and I am taking help of Ganga to reach out to you,” Priyanka Gandhi said in her letter ahead of the journey.
“I am closely attached to this land of UP. I am reaching out to you for a direct dialogue as no political change can begin without listening to you and sharing your pain. I assure that we will bring this change on the foundation of truth and your resolve and move ahead together to solve your problems,” she said.
In Prayagraj, she will meet the family of CRPF soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack last month. Priyanka Gandhi will have a darshan at Vidhyachal temple and Chandrika Devi in Mirzapur. She will also meet party men, women self-help groups and hold a roadshow there on Tuesday. She will interact with weavers and members of boatmen community and others on her way.
The Congress leader will be in Prime Minister Modi’s parliamentary seat of Varanasi on Wednesday. She will pay a visit to the residence of former prime minister late Lal Bahadur Shastri in Ramnagar area and later offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. She will also take part in a Holi Milan programme besides meeting Congress workers at the district party’s office before leaving for New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims about the development work done by him in his Lok Sabha seat and his government’s ambitious projects like the “Namami Gange” and waterways may come under close scrutiny as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra undertakes her river journey to Varanasi.
Namami Gange, or National Mission for Clean Ganga, is one of the flagship programmes of the Modi government. It was launched in June 2014 as an “integrated conservation mission” with an initial budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to “accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of national river Ganga”.
A day before her river journey, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra targeted the BJP government for ‘neglecting’ youth, women, farmers and working class and said she was reaching out to people with the help of Ganga that was a support to people of Uttar Pradesh.
She also interacted with party workers in state capital Lucknow on Sunday to review the state unit’s preparedness for the Lok Sabha election 2019.
The party has categorised the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in different categories. Seventeen seats have been put in the “high-priority” category, nine are in “priority” and the remaining are in “others” category. Priyanka Gandhi is responsible for 40 of these seats and they include Prayagraj and Varanasi.