On the day she set on her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra debuted on Twitter. The newly-appointed Congress general secretary already has over 42.4 thousand followers on the micro-blogging site. Priyanka, however, follows only seven Twitter handles for now, including, Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jyotiraditya Scindia and her official party handle.
Priyanka, the newest member of the Congress, who has been entrusted the charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, landed in Lucknow on Monday morning and was held a road show from the airport to the Congress headquarters.
Priyanka will have her hands full during her four-day visit to Lucknow as she will meet senior leaders and office bearers of the party. This will be Priyanka’s maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh after she formally entered politics last month.
She arrived in Lucknow, accompanied by her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary in-charge for western Uttar Pradesh Jyotiradtiya Scindia on Monday. The party in Uttar Pradesh is seeing the visit as the virtual launch of the Congress campaign in the state, ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections.
In-charge of 42 of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka will meet senior leaders and office bearers of the party constituency-wise during her visit till February 14, Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said. Lists of leaders, including former MPs, MLAs and other people’s representatives, have been sought from the district unit presidents. Each constituency is being allotted a different time to meet the senior leadership, during which all issues related to their areas will be discussed in detail, he said.
Besides, the district and city unit presidents, office bearers and other senior leaders will also be meeting Priyanka and Scindia during their visit, Awasthi said. Rahul Gandhi is likely to return the same day after a meeting with the state leaders, he added.
Preparations are underway to accord a grand welcome to the three leaders on their arrival, Awasthi said. They will be welcomed by party workers and leaders at nearly 37 points on the 10 km-route from the airport to the Nehru Bhawan Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) headquarters, he said.
He added that Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and Scindia are likely to garland statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi on their way to the party office. The route was finalised after a meeting with the district administration. The UPCC office is being spruced up and new hoardings have come up all the way from the airport, welcoming Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and Scindia. A team of Special Protection Group (SPG) also visited the UPCC headquarters on Thursday and met senior Congress leaders to make necessary security arrangements ahead of the visit, party sources said.
“Congress workers are excited about the visit of party leaders and we are awaiting to give them a rousing welcome… we hope that with her (Priyanka) joining active politics, the state will also get a new energy,” chief state Congress spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi said. “This is a very auspicious time for us and a good omen for the party,” he said.
source: Firstpost.com
