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UP polls: BJP gave step-motherly treatment to Raebareli, says Sonia Gandhi

Raebareli (UP), Feb 21 (PTI) Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the BJP of meting out “step-motherly” treatment to Raebareli and urged people to vote for her party candidates in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Gandhi also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, accusing them of mismanagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s going to be an important election because for the last five years you have seen a government which did nothing except divide people,” Gandhi said during a virtual address on the last day of the poll campaign for fourth phase.

This was her maiden election speech in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi is the Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli, which goes to polls on February 23.

“We had brought several development schemes for you but the Modi-Yogi government banned all of them. Step-motherly treatment was meted out to Raebareli,” Gandhi said.

“You have seen the politics of Congress – which is based on service of people and giving rights to people,” she said.

She said Congress workers have worked really hard in UP in last five years and 8,000 party workers were jailed while fighting for the rights of the people in the state.

“Brothers and sisters, I consider myself an inseparable part of your family. We are committed to pursuing a politics which makes your life better. We want to give you an MLA who works day and night for you, and makes policies that empower you,” Gandhi said.

“In this election, strengthen the ‘hand’ (party symbol) of the Congress party and select the politics which will make your future better. Ensure victory of all our candidates in Raebareli with huge mandate,” she appealed.

The Congress is faced with stiff challenge in Raebareli as it’s both MLAs have crossed over to BJP and fighting on lotus symbol.

After winning over Amethi, the BJP is making every effort to completely washout Congress in Sonia Gandhi’s home turf in 2022 UP polls.

Noting that the Congress brought in a legislation like MNREGA to empower people with the right to work and help them have a better life, Gandhi said it is a pity that during a crisis (pandemic), the budget for MNREGA was reduced instead of being increased.

She recalled how people faced difficulties times during the peak of the Covid pandemic, unable to get oxygen, medicines and even beds in hospitals and many lost their loved ones.

On the other hand, she noted that the pandemic also disrupted the work and business of many people while many endured the pain of having to walk for miles on foot during the lockdown.

“The Modi-Yogi government gave proof of how irresponsible they are. They turned away their faces from your problems and shut their eyes to your woes. Not only this, their behaviour towards you was also not good during the lockdown. The government did not provide you any relief,” she said.

She also targeted the Centre and the state government over the issues of farmers, youth and inflation.

She said farmers work hard to grow crops for everyone but in the last five years they neither got an appropriate price for their produce, nor fertilizers or facilities for irrigation.

“Farmers got under burden of debt while stray animals kept ruining their crops,” Gandhi said.

Similar is the condition of the youth, who study hard and prepare for jobs but the BJP government forced them to sit at home, she said.

“There are 12 lakh vacant government jobs in the state but you were not given jobs,” the Congress chief noted.

She said the price of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and mustard oil have become unaffordable for people and running a household has become difficult, and added that inflation also hit women who somehow managed to save small amounts of money.

Hitting out at the government over the unemployment situation, Gandhi said instead of reducing the burden of people, the government sold out many companies at low prices to its “friends”, which resulted in joblessness. PTI KIS SNS TDS TDS

This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.


Source: The Print

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