The battle for Uttar Pradesh is heated and it will reach a fevered pitch on Saturday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s event in Shahjanpur will clash with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi’s rally in Amethi.
The populous state of Uttar Pradesh will go to polls next year and both the parties — the BJP and the Congress — are doing all they can to sway voters.
On Saturday, the state will see heavy politicking, with both the heavyweights going up against one another.
Gandhis to take out rally in Amethi
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will undertake a padayatra in Amethi, his former Lok Sabha constituency, to protest against the government and the rising inflation. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, his sister and the party’s UP in-charge, will also be part of this foot march.
The two of them will lead a nearly 6-km-long padayatra from Ramlila ground to Harimau in Amethi. The padayatra will focus on voting out the BJP in 2022 polls to bring down rising inflation.
Shri @RahulGandhi & Smt. @priyankagandhi will be in Amethi, UP today for the #JanJagranAbhiyan Padyatra and will interact with citizens throughout the day.
India’s united voice of ‘BJP Bhagao, Mehangai Hatao’ will ring loud and clear, once again.
Stay tuned to our SM platforms. pic.twitter.com/GElb1wnHBF
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 18, 2021
This will be Rahul Gandhi’s first trip to Amethi in a gap of two-and-a-half years, reported News18. Rahul lost the Amethi seat to BJP’s Smriti Irani in the 2019 general elections by over 50,000 votes.
The Congress, as reported by NDTV, says Rahul’s presence in UP will bolster their campaign for the UP Assembly elections where the party is fighting solo on the plan of women empowerment, having already committed to 40 percent tickets for women.
Modi in Shahjahanpur
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Shahjahanpur today to lay the foundation stone of the ambitious Ganga Expressway project.
The 594-km long six-lane expressway, which is being built at a cost of over Rs 36,200 crore, will start near the Bijauli village in Meerut, and extend till near the Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj.
It will pass through Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj. Upon completion, it will become the longest expressway of Uttar Pradesh, connecting the western and eastern regions of the state, the PMO said.
Besides this visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the poll-bound state another three times till 28 December.
On 21 December, he will be in Prayagraj to attend a programme to distribute certificates to 2.5 lakh women beneficiaries of various government schemes. Modi will then visit Varanasi on 23 December to inaugurate several projects, including a safe city CCTV project, and lay the foundation stone of a dairy plant.
And on 28 December, he will inaugurate the 9-km long first leg of the Kanpur Metro Project.
Samajwadi Party in Raebareli
The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party will be carrying out its seventh phase of the ‘Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra’ from Raebareli.
Raebareli is considered to be bastion of the Congress. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi won from Raebareli.
With inputs from agencies
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