Priyanka Gandhi to address rally in Varanasi today

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address a 'Kisan Nyay' rally in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday. The focus of the rally will be Lakhimpur Kheri, where the death of eight people, including four farmers, had become the focal point in the politics of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The party has demanded the dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, and the arrest of the perpetrators behind the incident.

The Union minister's son, Ashish Kumar Mishra, has been named in the FIR and was arrested on Saturday. Priyanka, who has been busy monitoring the party organisation in Uttar Pradesh and making it poll-ready, also led the attack of the Congress on the ruling BJP.

Soon after the news of the violence broke out, she had set out for Lakhimpur but was placed under detention at the PAC guest house in Sitapur. After her release on Wednesday, Priyanka Gandhi, along with her brother Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, met the family members of the farmers killed in the incident and promised them all assistance. Sunday's rally will be held at the Jagatpur Inter College Ground in Varanasi.

She had earlier held meetings with party members in preparation for the electoral test early next year. During her visit to the state, the Congress in-charge of UP affairs held meetings with leaders, office-bearers and workers of different units of the party, including the Youth Congress, and took feedback from them for formulating the party's strategy for the elections.

The public meeting in Varanasi is being held soon after the resignation from the party of former MLA Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, the great-grandson of former UP chief minister Kamalapati Tripathi, who was considered close to the Gandhi family and had association with the party for four generations.