Rahul and Priyanka to visit Lucknow on February 11

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will accompany Priyanka Gandhi Vadra when she arrives on her first visit to Uttar Pradesh on February 11 after taking up the post of the party’s general secretary in-charge of the state’s eastern region.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally assumed charge as the Congress general secretary in New Delhi on Tuesday. Rahul Gandhi had announced the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia as the in-charges for east and west Uttar Pradesh, a politically crucial state that sends 80 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha, respectively on January.

She will stay back and work at the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) headquarters in the state capital until February 14 to firm up the party’s strategy for the Lok Sabha elections this summer, while Rahul will leave on the first day. Both of them are likely to address the media on the day.

“Yes, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will reach Lucknow on February 11. Priyanka will stay back up to February 14 while Rahul will leave on the same day,” said a senior party leader.

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A decision in this regard was taken after a meeting of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with the president of the Congress state unit Raj Babbar in New Delhi on Thursday.

Rahul Gandhi had said he tasked both Priyanka and Jyotiraditya with a mission after he announced their appointment.

“I have not sent Priyanka and Jyotiraditya to UP for two months. I have given a mission to them. They are very powerful leaders of the party and I trust they will work for the state. We want to change the state’s politics with these young leaders,” he had said, adding that he had asked them to work to form the Congress government in UP in the next assembly elections.

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Priyanka and Jyotiraditya have already taken feedback from senior party leaders, including Raj Babbar.

“We hope both of them will work out a team of leaders to supervise the party at different levels in Lok Sabha polls,” the leader cited above said.

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Leaders of the state unit of the Congress party said they are gearing up to welcome Priyanka.

“As this will be her first visit to the state and the UPCC headquarters after her appointment as AICC general secretary (east UP), we will accord her a grand welcome. This will be like a road show,” said another Congress leader.