Priyanka to camp in family bastion to bolster Rahul’s campaign
Barely 329 hours are left to the poll from now...keep some hours for sleep and give the rest to me, Congress leader tells party workers in Rae Bareli
RAE BARELI Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reached here on Monday evening and took command of the party’s electoral campaign for Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats that will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of the elections.
Priyanka, who will camp in the region till the end of campaigning on May 18, addressed a meeting of Congress’ booth level workers soon after her arrival in Rae Bareli from where her brother Rahul Gandhi is a candidate. Family loyalist KL Sharma, who has been fielded from Amethi, also addressed the partymen.
“I am here for the election of my elder brother (Rahul Gandhi) and friend KL Sharma...barely 329 hours are left to the poll from now. Keep some hours for sleep and give the rest to me. I will make you run and work, may scold you, but will fight shoulder to shoulder with you. This is the team that knows how to fight the elections. If any one of you wants to step back for some fear, this is the time to do so because I will not allow you to retract after this. We must fight together and ensure victory in both Rae Bareli and Amethi,” said Priyanka while addressing partymen at the Bhuemau Guest House here.
As she asked the party to campaign, Priyanka Gandhi invoked former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi and referred to late Moti Lal Nehru and Jawahar Lal Nehru, who she said were arrested by the British in an agitation of farmers in Rae Bareli. “This is the election of Rahul Bhaiya. This is very personal and respectful for us. This place (Rae Bareli) will send a message to the entire country. This is the fortress that BJP failed to breach in 2019 polls and this is the fortress you defended,” she said.
“This constituency sends the right message to the country. When your message was not in our favour (Indira Gandhi lost the poll in 1977), you were awakened. You are awakened even today. Whatever message you will send to the country will be discussed across the world,” she added.
Priyanka emphasised: “Your fight today is not for Rahul Gandhi... It is for this soil for which great leaders laid their lives. They are calling great leaders like Indira Gandhi anti-national. She fought shoulder to shoulder along with you and toed the right path. You supported her in her struggles and stopped her (1977) when you had to. But you never left her, nor did she leave you.”
“This is the land, which has blood of my family mixed and we are fighting for the same. Your ancestors have laid their lives for this land...it’s holy for us,” she said.
When partymen were raising slogans asking her to continue her fight for the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi said: “Main sherni hoon” (I am a lioness). “Indira Gandhi was not upset with the people of Rae Bareli when she lost the poll in 1977. She learnt from the defeat and won the poll in 1980,” she added.
She said the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not formulating policies in favour of the poor, and instead was neglecting them. “Government policies are not for the farmers, but for the big industry. The Modi government is weakening democratic institutions. Those who fought for the country never thought they would be called anti-national by a government,” said the Congress leader.
Priyanka said though the BJP spoke against dynasty, it was promoting the same and had worked out the electoral bond scheme that turned out to be the “biggest corruption scheme”.