The Congress will not enter into an alliance with any political party and contest all the 403 seats on its own in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls that are due early next year, said the party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday.
A tweet from the UP Congress unit said that Priyanka Gandhi made the declaration on the plea of the party leaders.
The leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (SP) were nowhere to be seen even when the Unnao rape case in 2017 and the Hathras gangrape-and-murder case in 2020 rocked the country, the Congress general secretary said concluding an electoral tie-up in the state, adding that only the Congress was fighting for the people.
Over the last five years in the state, Priyanka Gandhi said the party fought for the people’s agenda and added that on the basis of its organisational strength, it would go to the polls and give an opportunity to the party cadre, according to PTI sources.
Priyanka Gandhi, addressing Congress workers at the Pratigya Sammelan – Lakshya 2022 in Bulandshahr’s Anoopshahr, stressed on the importance of the UP polls for the party, calling it a “do-or-die” situation.
Nearly 7,400 party workers from 14 districts of the state in Bulandshahr attended the Sammelan
Priyanka Gandhi’s declaration of the Congress going solo in the UP elections assumes significance as in recent days, the grand old party was seen favourably inclined towards the Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
Trggering the speculation, recently, the Congress General Secretary and the RLD chief had together travelled to Delhi from Lucknow in a Chhattisgarh government plane.
Gandhi emphasised that the electoral contest can only be won by strengthening the party at the booth level, and called upon the Congress leaders to bolster the booth committees.
She has further asked the Congress cadre to be active on social media and post all party activities on different social media platforms.
Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP, Gandhi said the Bhartiya Janata Party has no respect for the freedom movement as its leaders did not shed blood and sweat for the country’s independence. Only leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and BR Ambedkar envisioned freedom for the country, she added.
Her party had not only brought development in the country, the Congress General Secretary said adding but also promoted brotherhood and harmony.
Lashing out at the Central government over the rising fuel prices, Priyanka Gandhi said that for 70 years, Congress ensured that the fuel prices did not go above Rs 70 per litre. In the last seven years, she added, however, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government has let the guard down, which has allowed the prices to shoot upwards of Rs 100 per litre.
Faced with the challenge to revive the party’s electoral fortunes in the political heartland, where it could win only seven seats in the 2017 Assembly polls, she has been crisscrossing Uttar Pradesh.
(Inputs from PTI)
