The Gorakhpur Congress unit on Sunday raised a demand for fielding Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from the constituency, depicting her as a modern Jhansi ki rani.
The district unit of the party raised the demand for Priyanka in two posters that came up in the stronghold of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who represented Gorakhpur between 1998 and 2017 in the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabha.
In the first poster, the Congress party workers demanded that Priyanka be made the Congress candidate from Gorakhpur for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The poster also mentioned defeat of the BJP candidate from Gorakhpur seat in the 2017 bypoll, held after it was vacated by Adityanath to become the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.
The poster carries the slogan Gorakhpur ki yahi pukar, Priyanak Gandhi Sansad is baar. In the second poster, Priyanka Gandhi is depicted as the rani of Jhansi, riding a white horse. The poster carries slogans like Chaaro taraf baj raha danka, Bahan Priyanka—Bahan Priyanka and Desh ki ab yahi pukar, Congress aae abki baar.
Speaking to reporters, Anwar Hussain, general secretary of the Congress district unit in Gorakhpur, said, "We are highly motivated and excited as Priyanka has been made in-charge of eastern UP. We are asking the party to make her the candidate for Lok Sabha elections from Gorakhpur this time."
Congress workers in Gorakhpur are not the first to demand Priyanka contest from their constituency. Last week, billboards sprung up in Bhopal, with Congress workers requesting Priyanka to contest from the constituency, which the party has not won since 1984.
Interestingly, in December, it was reported that the Congress wanted to field Priyanka from the Rae Bareli seat, currently held by her mother Sonia Gandhi. Sonia has hinted at retirement from active politics.
