LUCKNOW: On a day when Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit her 'karma bhoomi' in eastern UP and launched her party's campaign on an emotional note from her ancestral home - Swaraj Bhawan - in Allahabad on Monday, her party came under sharp attack from SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati who rejected Congress's generosity of leaving seven seats for alliance in UP in 2019 Lok Sabha election.
While both alliance partners dubbed the Congress's gesture as an attempt to create confusion of having an 'understanding' with alliance among voters and cadres alike, Priyanka, who embarked on 'Ganga Yatra' taking river route across four districts of eastern UP, tried to play the alliance onslaught down by saying that it did not affect her as her party and the SP-BSP alliance had a common agenda and a common enemy -- to defeat the BJP-- in the ensuing polls.
The Congress has so far named 33 candidates for Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka, tasked to revive her party's fortune in eastern UP which accounts for 53 per cent of total 80 Lok Sabah seats from UP, started off her day by offering prayers at Bade Hanuman temple at Sangam and worshipping the holy river in Prayagraj.
Dressed in a pistachio green saree with a magenta border, Priyanka, in her usual simple persona, presented the perfect imagery of a traditional devout Hindu woman at the Hanuman temple while offering puja before 140-kilometre Ganga Yatra on a steamer boat from Manaiya Ghat in Karchana tehsil of trans-Yamuna area of Prayagraj.
Her last stop will be at Assi Ghat in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency of Varanasi via Bhadohi and Mirzapur, the carpet belt of eastern UP on Wednesday.
To counter PM Modi's 'Man Ki Baat', Congress had planned 'Sanchi baat' for Priyanka to reach out the various caste and communities residing along the bank of Holy Ganga between Prayaraj and Varanasi. While addressing small gatherings on her way, she launched a scathing attack on Centre accusing it of "hoodwinking" people and undermining all existing institutions in the country.
The Congress leader claimed that all sections --- women, youth, farmer, deprived - were being muzzled in Modi rule.
"You are not being heard by anyone. No one is there to share your pain and plight in the present regime," she said at a nukkad meeting at Dumduma Ghat in Prayagraj. Priyanka repeated Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's charge that the present government was being run by four or five people who thought that they could do anything they want.
"The government is just focussing on industrialists and the chowkidar has become a part of them," she said.
She said nobody owns India as she appealed people to 'jago aur desh ko bachao' or wake up and save the country.
Having an indirect had a jibe at PM Modi's latest 'Main bhi Chowkidaar' campaign, Priyanka said: "A farmer told me that only the rich have watchmen, farmer are their own watchmen," she said. She appealed people to vote for Congress as her brother was a man of words and deeds.
"What Rahulji promises he keeps it. Congress government in Madhya Pradesh exempted farmers' loans as promised within ten days of coming to power," she claimed, cautioning people against believing in 'jumlas'.
She also held 'Nav pe Charcha' with several groups of students and women in Prayagraj. Accompanied by a battery of Congress leaders, Priyanka was sitting on the roof of a boat which was imported from Varanasi.
Decorated with flowers and the colours of Congress flag, the boat was a customised, fitted with all upmarket facilities including air conditioner, bed and sofa on the lower floor. Congress workers, including women, had been waiting for her since early morning singing bhajans and patriotic songs.
They also shouted slogans like 'Priyanka nahi yeh andhi hain, Doosri Indira Gandhi hain' (She is not just Priyanka but a storm, she is the second Indira Gandhi) and 'UP mein badlav ki andhi, Priyanka Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi' (Storm of change in UP, Priyanka Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi').
Waving to the crowd mainly comprising Congress workers along the banks in villages on her trail, Priyanka stopped at a few locations, connected with people of all age in her own inimitable style and addressed a few small public meetings.
The Congress leader had a night stay at Sitamarhi in Bhadohi.
However, a night before, she had shared her memories by a nostalgic tweet: "While sitting in the courtyard of Swaraj Bhawan, I can see the room where my grandma was born. While putting me to sleep every night, she used to tell me the tale of Joan of Arc. Her words are still alive in my heart that be fearless and rest all will be well."