NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called himself ‘Ganga Putra’ (son of Ganga) during the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign in Varanasi. Now, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is apparently banking on ‘Maa Ganga’ to lift the party’s fortunes in the state.
Priyanka has decided to rake up the Ganga cleaning issue during her three-day campaign tour from Prayagraj to Varanasi. The campaign will start on March 18 from Sangam in Prayagraj and end at Varanasi on March 20. During the 120-km travel, she will take a boat ride, stopping at villages on the route and meeting a cross-section of people living along the river.
According to party sources, the boat ride has been chosen to highlight the PM’s failure to clean the river, which he has promised in run-up to the election. “It is like taking the fight to the PM’s constituency and raking up issues that have been neglected by the government,” said a Congress source.
Modi, during his 2014 election campaign in Varanasi, had said ‘Maa Ganga’ has called him to Varanasi and he would ensure that the river was cleaned in the next five years. Congress workers in UP have been demanding that Priyanka, the in-charge of UP East, must take on Modi in Varanasi.