Lok Sabha elections 2019: In first rally as gen secy, Priyanka urges voters to pick ‘right issues’

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra targeted the Centre’s ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over what she described as “unkept promises and spread of hatred” on Tuesday, addressing her first public rally after her appointment as a general secretary of the party in January.

Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congress’s incharge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, told a gathering in Gujarat that votes are a “weapon” which should be used “wisely” for the betterment of the nation, and that people should not get swayed by tall claims during elections.

“Our institutions are being destroyed. Wherever you see, hatred is being spread,” she said, adding that the April-May Lok Sabha elections are no less than the fight for independence. Nothing matters more to the Congress party than to protect the nation and working for it, she said. Priyanka Gandhi also said she was “saddened” by what was happening in the country and asked where the promised jobs were.

“You have a weapon with you…weapon of vote. This weapon is not be used to hurt or harm anyone, but to strengthen yourself. Use this weapon wisely. In the elections, many issues will be presented to you. But, it is your responsibility to choose right issues of unemployment, women’s security, agrarian distress,’’ she said at the rally near Adalaj village of Gandhinagar district.

Priyanka Gandhi was in Gujarat to take part in the Congress Working Committee meeting that was attended by her brother and party president, Rahul Gandhi, and her mother and United Progressive Alliance chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, among others.

The Congress CWC was held in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, after a gap of 58 years, with the last one taking place in Bhavnagar in 1961. Priyanka Gandhi addressed the party’s Sanklap rally that sounded the Congress’s poll bugle for the Lok Sabha elections.

Priyanka Gandhi took a veiled dig at the PM and asked what happened to the promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh into every citizen’s bank account and pledges about women’s safety. “The people who made tall claims in 2014, ask them about the Rs 15 lakh that was to be deposited into your account. Ask them about the promises they made about women security and about employment.”

In 2014, Modi, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, promised to bring back black money from abroad to India and deposit Rs 15 lakh from it to every citizen’s bank account.

Priyanka Gandhi has held a series of meetings with party workers after making a foray into politics, but this was her first address at any public gathering. Till now, her public presence was limited to the road show in Uttar Pradesh she held along with Rahul Gandhi on February 11.

Rejecting allegations by the Congress against the Modi government as lies, the ruling BJP said the Opposition party is engaged in spreading lies from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and appeared “nervous” as it has sensed its “defeat” in the Lok Sabha polls.

After Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi spoke, BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, “...These Gandhis are obviously different from the [Mahatma] Gandhi we all know. The latter followed the path of truth. These Gandhis follow lies.”

The Congress appeared nervous as it has sensed defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Javadekar said. He played down Priyanka Gandhi’s speech attacking the BJP, saying there was nothing new in what she said. She has been campaigning for several elections and made no impact, he added.

Later in the day, she tweeted from her official handle: “ In the simple dignity of Sabarmati, the truth lives on.”