Priyanka to launch major campaign, first rally in Meerut on September 29

LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra proposes to launch a massive campaign and address a series of public rallies beginning in Meerut on September 29 to connect with the people, including farmers agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws. Priyanka is expected to make a number of public announcements about the promises her party may make to people in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, according to senior Congress leaders.

“Priyanka is expected to make some important announcements about the promises the Congress proposes to make on various fronts. The promises may include scrapping of three farm laws, free power, waiving loans of farmers and about the party’s stand on some other issues concerning the people,” said a senior Congress leader on condition of anonymity.

Priyanka, who presided over a meeting with senior party leaders via video conferencing on Monday, also proposes to address public meetings at a number of other places that include Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gorakhpur, the Lok Sabha seat that chief minister Yogi represented as an MP, and in the Bundelkhand region.

“Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is scheduled to address mega public rally at Meerut. She will also address rallies in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Mahoba and a number of other places. She may address a public rally in Varanasi on October 2 or 3. We will get details about her public rallies soon,” said another senior leader. Priyanka, who reviewed the Congress’s preparedness for the 2022 assembly election in Lucknow recently, had asked the state party leaders to launch Pratigya Yatras covering a distance of about 12,000 km across Uttar Pradesh.

The party has worked out a detailed programme of the proposed yatras that would cover most parts of the districts during the Navratri celebrations the next month. “If the Congress wants to get some results this time, it should begin implementing certain welfare programmes using party funds. Making announcements at public rallies may not work,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University.