As Priyanka Starts Boat Campaign, Indira Gandhi Photo On Congress Timeline

As Priyanka Gandhi Vadra started on her boat campaign in Uttar Pradesh today, the Congress offered breathless comparisons to her grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi. The three-day river journey, which marks the launch of the Congress campaign in UP for the April-May national election, will take the Congress leader from Prayagraj to Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

One of Priyanka Gandhi's first stops was the decades-old Bade Hanuman temple, a.k.a "Lete Huye Hanuman Mandir (sleeping Hanuman temple)" a must-visit in Prayagraj.

Many Congress leaders have demanded that Priyanka Gandhi contest from the Phulpur parliamentary constituency once represented by her great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.

She was seen offering flowers, flanked by priests and security men, her head covered with her sari.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress promptly put out a tweet with a throwback photo of Indira Gandhi, almost in an identical setting.

"Traditions, rituals never change," said the tweet in Hindi.

परम्पराएं, रीति-रिवाज़ कभी नहीं बदलते। pic.twitter.com/Rk2TEvcuF2

— UP Congress (@INCUttarPradesh) March 18, 2019

Indira Gandhi visited the temple in 1979.

Priyanka Gandhi joined politics in January and has been given a big task - managing the Congress campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which includes PM Modi's Varanasi.

The Congress could manage only two of UP's 80 seats in the 2014 election.

The boat ride covers much of that region. "Ganga maiya udaar hai (Mother Ganga is large hearted)," she said as she set on the journey.

The 47-year-old stayed at Swaraj Bhawan, her ancestral home, and started the day with a tweet recalling her grandmother.

She tweeted a photo of the room in the 19th century building where Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917. "While sitting at the Swaraj Bhawan, I can see the room where my daadi (grandmother) was born. My grandmother used to tell me the story of Joan of Arc while putting me to sleep at night. Her voice resonates in my heart even today. She used to say, 'Be fearless. Then, everything will be good'," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.