Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will be held early next year. In the run-up to the elections, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra flagged off three “Pratigya Yatras” and released the party’s election manifesto for the state. The Congress leader spoke to The Sunday Guardian after releasing the manifesto.
Q: The Congress party has decided that it will give 40% of the total election tickets to women in the state. Why are you focusing on the women of Uttar Pradesh?
A: I always stood up for women empowerment. The Congress party has resolved to grant women 40% of the total number of electoral tickets. These tickets would be distributed on the basis of merit rather than caste or religion. This decision was made in the interest of women’s empowerment. This decision has no additional political motivation or purpose. We want to see women in politics become full partners in power. Free e-scooty and mobile phones for schoolgirls, agricultural loan cancellation, Rs 25,000 per year for poor families, electricity bill halved for everybody and 100% remission of unpaid electricity bills from the Covid period are just a few of the important promises made in our manifesto.
Q: Who do you see as the main opposition in Uttar Pradesh?
A: I see no opposition party working on the ground in the last few months. We have worked on the ground, our workers are on ground. Both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have fallen behind and are no longer in the fight in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, which are a direct confrontation between the Congress and the BJP.
Q: What made you choose Uttar Pradesh? Do you believe the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh is resurgent?
A: I’ve been the General Secretary in charge of the Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh for the past two years, and we’ve been working on the ground. We have given a lot of effort in Uttar Pradesh so far, some of which have reflected and some of which have not. Since the last two years, we have been trying to strengthen the organisation. There were a number of issues that we addressed in the state and attempted to resolve, and I don’t believe the opposition parties are taking notice of them.
Q: We spoke with Akhilesh Yadav, who stated that the Congress Party must first decide whether they are fighting for the people of Uttar Pradesh or against us.
A: From the district level to the booth level, we have strengthened the party. We’ve taught our party’s workers, and by December, we’ll have trained 2 lakh more. In the previous three months, 18,700 workers have been imprisoned for working for the people, thus we will not abandon our colleagues and will fight with courage.