Varanasi: When AICC general secretary for east UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra offers prayer at Kashi Vishwanath Temple here on Wednesday, she would be emulating her grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi in seeking blessings of Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of the temple.Giving details of Priyanka’s programme, district Congress president Prajanath Sharma said, “She will move by road from Chunar (Mirzapur) to Ramnagar in Varanasi, where she will visit the ancestral house and memorial of Lal Bahadur Shastri. From Ramnagar she will take a boat to Assi Ghat and Dashashwamedh Ghat.”“During her stay, she will meet mallah (boatmen) community at Assi Ghat, and offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath Temple. From where she will go to attend a Holi Milan programme and meet party workers in Piplani Katra locality. An arrangement has been made for 1,500 people for this purpose and the entry would be allowed to pass holders only,” he added.Before leaving for Delhi, Priyanka will also meet the family members of martyrs Avdhesh Yadav in Bahadurpur, Vishal Pandey in Chowkaghat and Ramesh Yadav in Tofapur.“Both Indiraji and Rajivji had offered prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple,” said senior Congress leader and former district president Satish Chaubey. According to Rajendra Tiwari, brother of former mahant of Kashi Vishwanath temple Kulpati Tiwari, Indira Gandhi visited Kashi Vishwanath temple in 1978, soon after her defeat in 1977 election after Emergency, to take blessings of Lord Shiva. “She again visited the temple in 1981 after her win in 1980 election. She stayed for two days here and went to the temple on feet after taking holy dip in Ganga,” recalled Tiwari.“Rajiv had also offered prayer at the temple just before the 1984 Lok Sabha elections to take blessings of the Lord,” said Tiwari adding that he (Rajiv) could not go to the temple in 1986 when he visited Varanasi to launch the Ganga Action Plan.He said AICC president Rahul Gandhi had also offered prayer at Kashi Vishwanath temple before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Later, he along with SP president Akhilesh Yadav, visited the temple in March 2017 before the UP assembly election. “During her stay in Varanasi, Priyanka will also visit the ancestral house of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and his memorial at Ramnagar. However, the place was never visited by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,” claimed Chaubey.

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