Eyeing Punjab, Priyanka to pay respect at Ravidas temple in Varanasi

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary and in-charge for UP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is scheduled to visit the Ravidas temple in Varanasi on Wednesday on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

The temple in Varanasi is revered in Punjab and has huge following in the state. Even the state election was deferred on the request of the Chief Minister and the BJP.

Punjab elections were earlier scheduled for February 14 but were deferred to February 20 in view of the Ravidas jayanti.

The visit holds significance as Punjab is going to polls on February 20 and scheduled caste comprises around 32 per cent of the electorate in the state. The Congress has a Dalit Chief Minister, Charanjit Singh Channi on whose face the Congress is contesting polls. However, the Congress says that this is not the first time she is visiting the temple.

Priyanka Gandhi is campaigning for the party in Punjab and on Tuesday she was at Ropar to canvass for the party candidates. Earlier on Sunday, she accused former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for running his government on the directions of the BJP-led central government.

"This forced us to change the leadership (Amarinder Singh) in the state so that the state government is operated from Punjab, and not from Delhi," she said while campaigning for party candidates. She also targeted the AAP and then took a stroll in agricultural fields to have a feel of the rural Punjab. She also attacked the Aam Aadmi Party, saying it has emerged from the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the BJP's ideological