lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 16, 2019 18:08 IST

Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, will kick off her election campaign for the April-May general elections from Varanasi — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency — on March 20, party leaders familiar with the matter said.

Gandhi will undertake a river journey from Allahabad on March 18 and will reach Varanasi on March 20, according to the party leaders. This comes close on the heels of PM Modi’s visit to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency Amethi on March 3 to announce a slew of projects.

During her campaign, Priyanka Gandhi is likely to raise questions over the government’s key projects such as “Namami Gange”, aimed at a clean-up of the river, and waterways, the party leaders said.

“Narendra Modi has been telling lies to the people of Varanasi and India for the past five years. We will meet Priyankaji in Lucknow a day before she begins her river journey. We are sure she will take a view of the situation and tell the truth to the people,” said senior Congress leader Rajesh Mishra.

In Lucknow, senior party leaders on Friday reviewed preparations for her visit. Priyanka Gandhi, during her last visit to Uttar Pradesh, had stressed the need for strengthening the party’s organisation in the state.

“I am learning a lot about how to restructure the organisation and the changes needed to be made for the road ahead,” she told journalists in Lucknow last month. The Congress had sent its national general secretaries to all the Lok Sabha constituencies to ensure that an organisational structure was put in place at the grassroots level.