Lucknow: Latest visuals from Congress office. General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Gener… https://t.co/gmPs4oy6Jo — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 1549853790000 ...when party cadre received voice message from Priyanka, Jyotiraditya Congress workers wear t-shirts with Congress General Secretary for Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's f… https://t.co/M4d1FadDOz — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 1549849340000 Priyanka Gandhi on 4-day visit to Uttar Pradesh for debut roadshow LUCKNOW: On Monday, when Priyanka Gandhi gets onto the makeshift rath for her debut roadshow in Lucknow, amid fanfare by Congress supporters, she will be accompanied by her brother and party’s national president Rahul Gandhi .This was confirmed by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Raj Babbar . This is the first time that the siblings would travel together in public for a political rally in Lucknow.On a normal day, lights would be out in the UP Congress office by 8pm, but since the announcement of Priyanka Gandhi’s arrival to Lucknow, there is 24-hour activity on the premises.Inside, Congress bigwigs including former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat, former UPA minister Mukul Wasnik, PL Punia, Rajiv Shukla, Jitin Prasada and Pramod Tewari held a closed-door meeting with UP Congress president Raj Babbar.The Lucknow district administration sought to dispel the fear expressed by Congress party supporters that their permission for the roadshow was being withheld.“We have only requested that the route may be diverted from Vidhan Sabha area to Hazratganj. That too till 5 PM. The party workers or their office bearers are free to organise the roadshow anywhere,” Lucknow administration top official told TOI.Babbar also said that Priyanka would collect feedback on candidature for Lok Sabha seats from people who have been called from various districts between Tuesday and Thursday.Meanwhile, workers are making special efforts to welcome the leaders.General secretary Shailendra Tewari customised his car to welcome Priyanka. “Aa gai priyanka... baj gaya danka... brashtachar ki ab lagegi Lanka...,” it read.Just a little after 8pm, cadres received a personalised voice message from Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia saying that she needed the support of each worker.<doc-sep>The poster hails Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as an avatar of Goddess Durga. The fervour among Congress supporters in Uttar Pradesh over Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's first visit to the state after being given charge of its eastern half is scraping hysterical levels. Congress supporters have plastered much of Lucknow with posters glorifying her and other top leaders ahead of the roadshow organised through the city from the airport to the Congress offices. One of the posters has gone as far as projecting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Goddess Durga. "Sister Priyanka, an avatar of Godess Durga, incinerate the regime of lying thugs," reads the poster in Hindi. The poster appears to have been put up by a Youth Congress leader in the city. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's decision to join active politics two weeks ago has galvanised the Congress and the morale of its party workers. Ms Gandhi has been tasked with turning around the fortunes of the party in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for around 40 Lok Sabha seats. Posters welcoming Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have been plastered across Lucknow. For her four-day tour of the state, Priyanka Gandhi will take out a mega roadshow running well over 30 kilometres, through some of the most congested areas of Lucknow. Apart from the roadshow, she is scheduled to address meetings in specific constituencies. Congress sources have also said that instead of returning to Delhi after her tour, Priyanka Gandhi might visit other areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh. "Tomorrow, 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. A kind of politics in which the voice of my youth friends, my sisters and the poorest of the poor will be heard," she told supporters in an audio message through the party's Shakti App on Sunday.<doc-sep>As Priyanka Gandhi embarked on a roadshow through Lucknow to kick off her campaign for Uttar Pradesh on Monday, a bizarre sideshow played out on mainstream and social media. The mega rally took place three weeks after Priyanka Gandhi made her formal entry into politics, taking charge as the Congress’s general secretary for Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The party pulled out all stops to ensure a spectacle – and the media played along, breathlessly covering the events before, during and after the rally. The Times of India carefully chronicled Priyanka Gandhi’s expressions and hand movements, her “grins and vigorous nods”, and copiously read between the lines of her gesture of holding a model of a Rafale jet along with her brother, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. As the election approaches, the Congress is working hard to keep the alleged irregularities in the purchase of the Rafale fighter aircraft from France in the news, with Rahul Gandhi leading the charge. Though Priyanka Gandhi did not say anything about the alleged scam during the roadshow, “her impromptu decision to join her brother...in lifting the dummy model of Rafale”, according to The Times of India, “left many wondering if there is more to her striking resemblance to Indira Gandhi”. “While Rahul rallied behind the ‘Chowkidar-hi-chor-hai’ chorus,” the daily said, “the Congress eastern UP in-charge firmly held the handle carrying the Rafale jet model.” The India Today news channel decided to offer an inside view of the rally – quite literally – by touring the interiors of the bus in which the Gandhi siblings were travelling. “Everything has been sanitised,” the reporter says at one point. “Here is where the driver will sit,” she remarks while moving to the wheel. The refrigerator, the microwave and the television also get some air time. India Today's @mausamii2u shows you the inside visuals of the bus in which Priyanka Gandhi along with her brother Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders are doing a roadshow.#ITVideo Full coverage https://t.co/BGh6rZLjqO pic.twitter.com/Izewxp76ar — India Today (@IndiaToday) February 11, 2019 The Aaj Tak website was even more granular in its coverage, zooming in on the black dot or teeka on the foreheads of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, a superstition followed in Hinduism to ward off ill luck, and speculating whose evil gaze they were guarding against. ABP News was among several channels that started counting down to the roadshow, dedicating one segment, titled “Saat Din Siyasat Ke”, or Seven Days of Politics, to Priyanka Gandhi’s first week in office since she taking charge on February 7. There was much analysis of her decision to spend four days in the Uttar Pradesh capital and on-the-spot reports from areas the roadshow was set to pass through. The channel also had a segment on 25 highlights of the rally. Among observations about the crowds and the preparations, the takeaways included the fact that Rahul Gandhi was checking his phone frequently and that around 4 pm, the Congress chief had tea, while his sister did not. Play A glass of lassi, meanwhile, briefly attracted the attention of India TV, which also covered the rally extensively. It also observed that while Priyanka Gandhi usually wears a sari to public meetings, this time she was in a salwar kurta. Play Thieves had a “field day” at the roadshow, reported India Today, citing accounts of Congress workers who claimed that 50 phones had been stolen. “Congress workers caught a man for mobile theft and managed to hand him over to the police,” the report said. “Police had to release the man as not a single phone was recovered from him.” A police complaint has been filed, the report added. Priyanka Gandhi’s “Pink Army” – a group of about 500 volunteers dressed in pink who call themselves the Priyanka Sena – also attracted much attention and became Twitter’s meme topic of the day. Play Play As some journalists pointed out, for all the posturing, Priyanka Gandhi did not say anything during her roadshow, even as the Congress president addressed the public. Some speculated that the Congress leader wanted to weigh her words, while others said it was a way of communicating that Rahul Gandhi remains the boss. A day before the roadshow, an article in Foreign Policy foreshadowed the media spectacle the event was likely to be: “Lacking a sizable advertising budget, the Congress can ensure wall-to-wall television coverage of any event in which Gandhi even remotely figure. In a country where dynastic politicians are often revered as deities, Rahul Gandhi has not yet attained divine status – a reflection of his uneasiness with the spotlight. Given the novelty associated with Priyanka Gandhi’s plunge into the rough-and-tumble of retail politics and her perceived superior political acumen, India’s ratings-mad news channels will gladly cut into live programming to air any speech, press conference, or casual remark she gives on the trail. In 2014, Modi and the BJP saturated the media landscape, with the star campaigner’s face and the party’s election symbol – the lotus flower – plastering billboards to bus shelters. Gandhi allows the Congress to claw some of this space back – for free.” Also read: Fact check: Congress supporters post old photo of crowds at Priyanka Gandhi’s Lucknow roadshow Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘Pink Army’ draws jokes, jibes – and questions about the colour’s ‘sexist message’ Priyanka Gandhi suffers from bipolar disorder and beats up people, alleges Subramanian Swamy How Priyanka Gandhi went from reclusive politician to Congress’ trump card in 20 years<doc-sep>Harish Rawat Harish Rawat Congress general secretary and former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat’s presence on the modified chariot with party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary in charge of eastern UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the roadshow in Lucknow surprised many in the party. Rawat was on the chariot also when roadshow wound up at the party’s state headquarters. A leader explained that Rawat, in charge of Congress affairs in Assam, was a student of Lucknow University and was an active leader in the party before the hill state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh. Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik was also present, apparently sent by the party’s central headquarters to coordinate arrangements of the programme. All Off Record As Rajya Sabha adjourned within minutes on Monday, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu ensured that the voices of an agitated Opposition did not go beyond the walls of the Upper House. As is usual on such occasions, Naidu ordered that nothing would go on record. He added that nothing will go on record without the Chair’s permission in print and electronic media — usually that treatment is meted out to proceedings or words that are expunged. Quick Surge While the pressure for constant communication in the digital era made the otherwise media-aloof Mayawati to join Twitter last week, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was quick to start a handle on the day she attended her debut meeting as Congress general secretary. Within a few hours, Priyanka pushed many political friends and foes behind in terms of followers. On Monday evening, after five days of joining the social media platform, Mayawati had 76.9 thousand followers, while the Congress leader got 50 per cent more followers than that of the BSP supremo and was growing exponentially, much to the delight of Congress leaders.<doc-sep>
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress's new general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, made a roaring political debut in Uttar Pradesh, the most important state politically. As she launched her campaign for the upcoming national election with a roadshow on Monday, her brother and party president Rahul Gandhi asserted that it was the time to uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and form the government in the state. Neta Priyanka, no stranger to roadshows with her brother, drew big crowds in UP's Lucknow. As a result, many thieves had a field day as they managed to steal more than 50 mobile phones. The rally started from airport and continued till the party's state headquarters. Congress workers caught a man for mobile theft and managed to hand him over to the police. A Congress worker informed police that mobile and wallet of more than 50 people were stolen from the mega rally. Police had to release the man as not a single phone was recovered from him. A formal complaint was lodged at UP's Sarojini Nagar police station. Cell phones of party leaders, including the Assistant City Magistrate of the state and Congress spokesman Jeeshan Haider, were also stolen. An official complaint has been registered and an investigation is underway, according to a cyber cell expert. The 47-year-old campaigned for the first time outside the Gandhi family constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli. This was for the first time in decades that the party managed to generate a buzz in UP, that too in its capital, which has voted the BJP in every election since 1991. The Congress hopes Priyanka'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.