Sharat Pradhan in Amethi
After taking a long break from grassroots politics, Priyanka Gandhi, the charismatic daughter of Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, is back into campaigning where her brother Rahul is busy moving heaven and earth to put the Congress back on its feet at next month's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Priyanka flew down to Lucknow on Monday noon in a chartered aircraft straight from New Delhi to the airstrip at Indira Gandhi Flying Academy in Fursatganj, about 35 km from the state capital, to go around Amethi and Rae Bareli, the respective parliamentary constituencies of her brother and mother.
'Priyanka has come here in response to the popular demand of the party'
Even as Congressmen see it as a routine practice for this Gandhi scion who does make it a point to spin around these two very special constituencies when Rahul and Sonia are directly in the fray for Lok Sabha elections, excitement reigns supreme in the party rank and file largely because of Priyanka's arrival, even though she has no plans of taking a direct plunge into the campaign for the state assembly.
"Priyanka has come here in response to the popular demand of the party; and I am sure, she will prove to be a shot in the arm to our campaign," UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told rediff.com.
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Priyanka to hold closed door talks with Cong candidates from Amethi, Rae Bareli
Meanwhile, soon after her arrival, Priyanka drove down straight to the private guest house of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation run by Sanjay Gandhi Hospital (Gandhi family's regular abode) at Munshiganj, where a series of meetings were lined up with local Congress functionaries.
According to the Congress spokesman, besides meeting party functionaries, Priyanka will also hold one-to-one closed door talks with all local Congress candidates in both Amethi and Rae Bareli.
The heavily guarded guest house has been kept out of bounds for the media.
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