Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Monday that instead of talking about the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls being a fight between ‘80 per cent and 20 per cent’, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party should put out statistics on employment, healthcare and education in the state.
She also hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh for having no accountability towards the people over the issues of development and of toeing the line of caste-based politics.
Interacting with a group of Noida residents during poll campaigning to seek support for Congress candidate Pankhuri Pathak, Priyanka Vadra cited the example of Chhattisgarh, where her party is in power. Issues of home buyers, including pending registries and delivery of flats, dominated the interaction.
Priyanka also offered prayers at Kalibari in Sector 26 of Noida.
Polling will be held in Noida on February 10 and Priyanka visited the city to drum up support for Pankhuri Pathak.
Citing her interactions with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the Congress leader told Noida residents that any chief minister should be aware of the problems being faced by the people of the state.
"Baghel ji told us that if there is a group of, say, businessmen, he has to meet them and address their concerns. But that does not happen in Uttar Pradesh because they engage in the politics of caste and religion. They have no accountability and hence, you all are being ignored. We are simply saying that what should be spoken about during an election is not being said. They are not talking about development. People are not going to benefit from the talks (about caste and communal issues) they are giving, only political parties are benefitting from it," Priyanka said.
The Congress leader further said, “There is a need to talk about jobs, education, healthcare and women safety. They speak of 80 per cent versus 20 per cent. We say, talk about the percentage of youngsters who do not have jobs, talk about education, what percentage of the budget will you put in education, healthcare. Tell people about the money spent during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hence the responsibility of the public to change this pattern of politics.”
Priyanka also said that her party would be contesting all 403 assembly seats in the upcoming polls after nearly three decades, which she termed as an achievement.
Referring to Uttar Pradesh police lodging FIRs against Congress leaders like Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel during poll campaigning, Priyanka Vadra said, “I am mentally prepared ever since I started working in Uttar Pradesh. They can lodge cases, arrest me or put me in jail, but we are prepared to fight and struggle for the people.”
Interacting with reporters at Noida, Priyanka said, 'It is after almost three decades that the Congress will be fighting the assembly polls on all 403 seats of Uttar Pradesh. I think it is a major achievement. We will contest all seats and give a good fight.”
The Congress fought the 2017 Uttar Pradesh election in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. While the Bharatiya Janata Party swept the polls, bagging over 300 of the 403 seats, the Congress-SP combine won less than 60 seats.
The Congress general secretary hit out at her party's political rivals for allegedly focusing their politics on caste and communal lines and appealed to the people to focus on issues of development and local problems in the upcoming election.
With women safety and their empowerment being a key poll plank of the Congress, Priyanka appealed to the women of the state to realise their power and make the election about their issues.
“All women must realise the power they have. Today, women are not considered a political power and why is that? They constitute half of the population but are still not taken seriously in politics as they are not united. All women must stand united and declare that they want to engage in politics for their future, self-reliance, independence and demand a chance to fight,” she said.