Asking party cadre to campaign aggressively and counter the Bharatiya Janata Party- Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh propaganda fearlessly on social media platforms, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday asked the top state leaders to gear up for a grand public rally in Varanasi on October 10 when she will kick off the campaign for regaining power in this biggest state of the country.
The rally will be held at Jagatpur Inter College Grounds in Varanasi.
Confirming this here on Friday afternoon, Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesman Onkar Singh said that preparations for the rally were underway on a large scale. He said that Priyanka Vadra would address the historic meeting of Varanasi during which she would explain how the governments of all other parties during their rule in the last 32 years had halted all development, gave jungle raj and pushed UP towards being the most backward state in the country.
Singh claimed that the Congress was constantly fighting against the anti-people policies of the BJP under the leadership of Priyanka Vadra on issues related to the people. He said that all the office-bearers of UPCC, and district and city units of the party along with all the cells and frontal organisations had been instructed to reach Varanasi with supporters to make the rally a big success.
Meanwhile Priyanka Vadra, who is holding back-to-back meetings during her five-day stay in Lucknow, said it was essential to counter the anti-Congress propaganda being carried out on the social media by non-Congress parties. She asked her party leaders and workers to reach out to the people and effectively convey the party's points, besides strongly countering any vicious propaganda.
Without naming any party, she said that the non-Congress rule in the past 32 years in Uttar Pradesh had taken the state on the path of decline.
Though she did not name any political party directly, her reference to the BJP, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party was obvious as she referred to 32-year rule of non-Congress parties that had taken the state on the path of decline.
"We need to bring out the truth," she said referring to campaigns based on spreading hatred and lies.
Priyanka, who has been taking meetings mostly at Kaul House where she is staying, is expected to spend five days a week -- Mondays to Fridays -- in Lucknow. On Friday, she left for New Delhi.
Meanwhile the Congress is also preparing to launch 'Pratigya Yatras' on four different routes on October 17. Through these yatras, party leaders will convey the promises the party proposes to make to the people in the 2022 assembly elections.
Besides kicking off the campaign with a huge rally in Varanasi on October 10, the party proposes to hold a rally at Meerut on October 20 and a mega public rally in Lucknow on November 19, the birth anniversary of late Indira Gandhi.
The Congress has given indications that the first list of candidates will be out by the second week of October.