It was all dust and scorching heat for a Congress
worker on Wednesday afternoon before party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra obliged him with an unexpected gesture -- she joined him and his friend
in a video chat on his mobile phone.Priyanka had arrived in the morning at
Lucknow's Chaudhry Charan Singh airport to kick start campaign covering Amethi,
Rae Bareli and Faizabad in UP, when her cavalcade stopped on a busy road.The
Congress leader earlier completed a three-day river ride campaign, from
Prayagraj to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, on
March 21.Sensing an opportunity, a young party worker, who was on video call
with his friend, came close to her car requesting that she speak to his friend.
And the Congress leader readily obliged.She also posed with many school
students for selfies on her way to Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of
her brother and party President Rahul Gandhi.The cavalcade made more than 16
stops between Lucknow and Amethi, with Priyanka sending her security staff into
a tizzy several times when she stepped out of car to meet people.In Amethi, she
met Mohammad Lalit, a cancer patient, and assured all help to his
family.Accompanied by party leaders Pramod Tiwari, P.L. Punia and his son Tanuj
Punia, Priyanka, visiting Amethi for the first time after being appointed the
party general secretary and eastern UP in-charge, received a rousing welcome
everywhere.There was some bitterness too as posters branding her a
"visitor" and accusing her of neglecting Amethi were spotted in the
constituency. The posters, which read "Dekha chunav, pehenli saree, nahi
chalegi ye hoshiyari", were put up under the name of Samajwadi Party
leader Jai Pratap Singh Yadav.However, Yadav denied putting up the posters and
alleged it was the handiwork of some miscreants.The SP-BSP-RLD alliance has not
fielded any candidate in Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies, the Gandhi
family turfs.The Congress, which won only two seats in the 2014 elections, is
going it alone in the state this time.