Priyanka Lambasted BJP’s Rant of Congress Not Having Done Anything In 70 Years

It is all good to produce report cards but the question is what has happened on the ground: Priyanka

HIGHLIGHTS

• Under CM Yogi Adityanath all sections of society have felt harassed - Priyanka Gandhi
• Priyanka Gandhi is on a three-day boat ride campaign in Uttar Pradesh
• Priyanka Gandhi leading Congress campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh
• Gandhis come for picnic before elections: UP deputy Chief Minster

Indian Observer Post

Lucknow/Bhadohi, March 19, 2019: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the newly-minted Congress general secretary, tasked with leading the party campaign in the eastern half of Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday lambasted the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government in the centre and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led state government for not doing anything on ground.

Without taking the name of any BJP leader, Priyanka Gandhi said: "The BJP's repeated statements that the Congress has not done anything for 70 years has an expiry date and that expiry date has gone." The charge, she added, doesn't cut much ice anymore. She was responding to the BJP's staple critique of the Congress.

Hitting out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who held a press conference in Lucknow to present his "two-year report card" and spent much of his time slamming previous governments, Priyanka said, "It is all good to produce report cards but the question is what has happened on the ground. On the ground there is distress."

During a pit-stop in her boat-ride in Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the national election, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the ruling BJP's statement about the Congress not doing anything for the past 70 years is "past its expiry date".

The Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi is on a three-day boat campaign on the Ganga from Prayagraj to Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency.

She also tackled a reporter's question on the BJP's Dinesh Sharma, the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, accusing the Gandhis - Priyanka and her brother Rahul Gandhi, Congress president - of "coming for a picnic" before elections and vanishing just after.

"Well, I haven't been to Italy in the last three to four years. I should go in fact to see my grandmother," Priyanka Gandhi, 47, remarked.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress party is banking on Priyanka Gandhi to boost its campaign after years in the margins of a politically vital state that has given the party some of its most iconic leaders, including prime ministers. For years, Priyanka Gandhi had confined herself to campaigning just in two seats Amethi and Raebareli.

In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the Congress was reduced to just two seats in the 80-seat UP, retaining just the Amethi and Raebareli constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi.

Priyanka Gandhi’s political debut has been dismissed by the BJP as a non-starter. Leaders of the ruling party say regardless of Priyanka, the Congress will end up with the same two seats. However, the Congress camp is highly jubilant after her successful campaigns.

On the other hand, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party often attacks the Congress by accusing it of not developing the country in the past 70 years.

Responding to a question about the Adityanath government issuing its report card on completion of two years in office, in which it highlighted various achievements and welfare schemes, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also in charge of Congress party’s east Uttar Pradesh unit said, “They (BJP) need to come to the ground to see the reality. This report card and publicity looks good, but the reality is different… all sections are feeling harassed,”

Priyanka Gandhi was talking to reporters at the Sitamarhi guest house in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi district, where she had a night halt.

On a three-day boat journey on Ganga to reach out to the electorate residing on the river banks, the 47-year-old Congress leader offered prayers at the Sitamarhi temple before starting for her next stop en route to Mirzapur.

“There is a big difference between polls promises and fulfilling them. As far as the rant about (no development in) 70 years is concerned, it also has an expiry date. You (BJP) are in the government for the past five years, what have you done in five years? Priyanka asked.

Priyanka Gandhi alleged that nothing had been done on the ground in the state during Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s rule. “Everyday, I’m meeting people from different sections of the society and I’m getting to know that students, youngsters, ‘shiksha mitras’, anganwadi workers and ASHA workers are feeling harassed. At some places, it was announced that they will get Rs 17,000 salary, but till now they have got nothing. For the past two years, they are getting Rs 8,000.” Image credit - The Indian Express 

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