UP needs no ‘adopted’ son, says Priyanka Gandhi

Lucknow/Delhi: After much speculation and talk, the Congress’ star campaigner, Priyanka Gandhi, hit the campaign trail for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on Friday.

She chose to address her first election rally at her mother, Sonia Gandhi’s constituency, Rae Bareli, with her brother and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi by her side.

Touted as the biggest crowd puller, Ms Gandhi launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had drawn a parallel between himself and Lord Krishna and described himself as the “adopted son” of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

Mr Gandhi, on the other hand, used two popular films — Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and Sholay — to throw jibes at the Prime Minister for failing to keep his promises of “achche din”. “Imagine going to watch a movie. You are shown Shah Rukh Khan’s DDLJ. After two and a half years, turns out it is Gabbar Singh in Sholay,” he said.

Speaking after her brother, Ms Gandhi too lashed out at the PM, saying, “Why does Uttar Pradesh need to adopt sons? Does the state not have its own sons? Are Rahulji and Akhileshji not your sons? UP is in their blood and in their heart.” Ms Gandhi then said, “In fact, every youth here is a potential leader and can work for development of UP.” She also accused the PM of always referring to women as “someone’s mother, sister, wife and daughter”. “Don’t women have an identity of their own,”she asked.

Mr Gandhi raised the farmers’ issue to target the PM. “Over two crore farmers gave us details of their debt burden and we went to request Mr Modi to waive the loans. Our request was met with complete silence and now, that elections are here, he is bargaining that if they vote for BJP, he will waive their loans,” he said.

Voting in Rae Bareli and Amethi is scheduled for February 19, in the third phase. A total of 826 candidates are in the fray for 69 seats spread across 12 districts.

Hitting out at the PM for referring to women as “mothers, wives, sisters and daughters,” Ms Gandhi asked, “Whenever he talks of women, he refers to them as someone’s wife, daughter or sister. Don’t women have an identity of their own?”

He pointed out that the BJP had made similar promises in Bihar, none of which have been fulfilled.

Mr Gandhi then added, “Modiji went to Varanasi and said ‘Ganga meri Maa’. He made promises but nothing has changed in Varanasi. He decided that India was dirty, so he gave brooms to the people and flew off to USA.”

Though Ms Gandhi has finally hit the campaign trail, the question remains whether she will confine herself to Rae Bareli and Amethi or zip across the state.

Sources said that the Congress continues to be in two minds as her election campaigns during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections had flopped miserably. Reports show that Ms Gandhi had held nearly 100 public meetings in Rae Bareli and Amethi and yet the Congress won only two seats.

Adhering to the usual, protective strategy of “not over exposing” her, a section of the Congress wants her role to be “limited”.  

There was speculation that Ms Gandhi may be joining UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, Dimple Yadav, for rallies. However, at this juncture, Ms Yadav is proving to be quiet a crowd puller for the SP-Congress herself. Reports from Agra indicate that hordes of women have been flocking to their rallies.