Priyanka on Kanpur road show after Amethi meetings (2nd Lead)

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Friday drew huge numbers of Congress supporters out on the streets as she kicked off her road show in this Uttar Pradesh industrial city on Friday.

Thousands of Congress workers thronged the streets since afternoon even as the party's eastern Uttar Pradesh incharge, who was supposed to arrive here at around 3 p.m., only reached around 5.50 p.m. and then kicked off her road show from the Ghanta Ghar area.

Priyanka Gandhi, who was clad in a red saree, received a rousing welcome in Kanpur as the party workers showered her with flower petals before she began the roadshow.

Seated with Kanpur candidate Sriprakash Jaiswal on the top of a SUV, she waved to party workers and supporters as they raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state.

Traffic in the industrial city came to a stand still as thousands lined up to see her.

A small scuffle also broke out after a BJP worker came along with the saffron party flag, but Congress workers snatched it and took it away.

Gandhi was to conclude her road show at Bada Chauraha after covering a distance of five km. She was also slated to address a small public gathering at the Phool Bagh Chauraha.

The Congress General Secretary had earlier held roadshows in Varanasi and Mirzapur during her three-day 140 km river ride between March 18 to 20. She had also held one in Ghaziabad for Congress candidate Dolly Sharma and another 15 km-long roadshow in Ayodhya on March 29.

Earlier, she held marathon meeting with party workers and the senior leaders of the BSP and the JAP in Gauriganj, the district headquarters of Amethi.

Arriving at the Fursatganj Airport in Rae Bareli, her mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency on Friday morning, she travelled to Gauriganj by road for the meeting to discuss the party's poll preparedness in the district.

A senior Congress leader told IANS: "During Priyanka Gandhi's five hour meeting, BSP district President Dilip Kumar and Jan Adhikar Party district President Vipin Kumar were also present."

The BSP and the JAP leaders assured of all help to the party in Amethi, where Priyanka Gandhi's brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi is facing a stiff challenge from BJP's Smriti Irani, who is contesting from the Uttar Pradesh constituency for a second time after she lost in 2014, the leader added.

Asked about the presence of Samajwadi Party leaders in the meeting, the Congress leader said that they will organise a meeting on their own and then they will call Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, in the meeting.

The BSP-SP-RLD alliance has not put up any candidate in the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats.

--IANS

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