Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra kicked off mega roadshow in Lucknow
Updated: March 05, 2019 09:05 IST
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra drew big crowds in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow as she launched her campaign for the national election with a roadshow two weeks after her debut in politics. Priyanka Gandhi, along with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi and fellow UP in-charge Jyotiraditya Scindia waved at hundreds of supporters from the top of a modified truck that was decorated in party colours.
47-year-old Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, no stranger to roadshows with her brother, campaigned for the first time outside the Gandhi family constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli
Rahul Gandhi made Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jyotiraditya Scindia was made in charge of western Uttar Pradesh
"Priyanka and Scindia-ji will work for the Lok Sabha election but their mission goes beyond that to the assembly polls. We will not relent until we establish a Congress government in UP," said Rahul Gandhi in course of the roadshow
Rahul Gandhi threw in his oft-repeated "Chowkidar chor hai", targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on corruption. The chant, picked up by the workers, followed them for much of the journey.
The Congress hopes Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's entry into politics will improve its chances in Uttar Pradesh, the state which has the highest number of seats in parliament and which the BJP swept in the 2014 national election, winning 73 of 80 seats.
Among the kaleidoscope of posters and billboards lining the roads were those featuring her grandmother Indira Gandhi, playing on her striking resemblance to the former prime minister. "...I hope that we can all come together to bring about a new kind of politics. A kind of politics in which all of you will be stakeholders," Priyanka said in an audio message through the party's Shakti App
Eastern Uttar Pradesh is home to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's base Gorakhpur. In the past, Allahabad (or Prayagraj, as it is called now) was Lal Bahadur Shastri's Lok Sabha seat and home to the Nehru family
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, dressed in a light green kurta-churidar, folded her hands or flashed a thumbs up sign as supporters, accompanied by drummers, cheered and shouted slogans
In 2014, the Congress just managed to retain the Gandhi family constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli - as compared to the 21 it had won five years earlier
As low-hanging electricity wires in the congested city forced the Gandhi siblings to switch to an SUV, they sat cross-legged on its roof and resumed their journey. They also stopped for hot tea and little chats on the way; near a decades-old cinema theatre Congress workers surrounded their car
