Announcing to contest all the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary and in-charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claimed it is only the Congress, and not the SP or BSP, that is fighting against the BJP.
She said that the Congress has prepared itself to contest all the 403 assembly seats in UP by giving 40 per cent candidature to women. The Congress leader said time has come for ‘karo ya maro’ (do or die) to fight inflation and other anti-people decisions of the government.
Addressing the first Pratigya Sammelan in Anupshahr in Bulandshahr on Sunday, Vadra said that for India’s freedom movement Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr BR Ambedkar sacrificed their lives, but the BJP leadership does not know the meaning of independence or freedom.
“Today there is freedom only for some selected people. The family of the rape victim of Hathras could not get the freedom to cremate her mortal remains,” she said, adding: “We have to fight against the government which has increased the price of petrol from Rs 70 to Rs 100 per liter in just seven years.”
Claiming that Congress is the only party fighting for the people, she questioned where were the SP and BSP leaders in Unnao, Hathras and even in Lakhimpur Kheri, where a Union minister’s son crushed the farmers under his car.
She asked: “Congress workers and leaders are fighting against the government on the streets and even going to jails. But what are the leaders of SP and BSP doing?
Around 7,400 Congress leaders and workers of 14 districts covering three divisions attended the sammelan. The leaders are the office-bearers of the party’s district, city, block and panchayat level organisations. The agenda of the meeting was to make the leaders prepare to launch a programme to reach every house to propagate the Congress’s ideology and pre-poll promises.