New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh battlefront formally opened on Monday with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra beginning her two-day boat-ride from Prayagraj to Varanasi even as BSP chief Mayawati rebuffed the Congress Party’s offer of not contesting against the BSP-SP-RLD alliance in seven seats, saying no confusion should be created by the Grand Old Party, and that the alliance was capable of defeating the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
Ms Vadra, who was recently made general secretary in-charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, played the Hindutva card to the hilt as she began her boat ride after praying at the Letee Hanuman temple at Sangam.
Clad in a green sari, she interacted with students on the steamer and spoke with voters standing on the river bank, asking them to help bring “a government that works for them” and said that her brother Rahul Gandhi does what he says.
Addressing the people at Sirsa Ghat and other places where she halted during the boat-ride, Ms Vadra took a swipe at Mr Modi’s “main bhi chowkidar” campaign, saying “chowkidars are for the rich, not for farmers”, and alleged that the issues of religion and caste are being raised as the government has failed on the development front.
“Unki (Prime Minister) marzi apne naam ke aage kya lagaen. Mujhe ek kisan bhai ne kaha ki ‘Dekhiye chowkidaar toh ameeron ke hotey hain, hum kisan toh apney khud chowkidaar hotey hain” (It is up to him what prefix he uses in his name. Yesterday I met a group of farmers. One of them told me, chowkidars are for the rich. We farmers are our own chowkidars), she said.
Ms Vadra’s boat-ride began from Manaiya Ghat in Kachnar tehsil of Prayagraj district. The Congress family scion will cover a distance of 100 km by boat from Allahabad, considered the political birthplace of the Nehru-Gandhis, to Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is considered the biggest challenger to the Nehruvian legacy so far.
Ms Vadra was accompanied by party leaders, including Savitri Bai Phule, the MLA from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh) who recently quit the BJP and joined the Congress.
In a brief address at Dumduma where the steamer halted, Ms Vadra said that she has come to listen to the people and learn about their problems rather than giving speeches.
“My brother Rahul Gandhi does what he says... In MP, in 10 days of the Congress coming to power, farmers’ loans were waived... Same in Rajasthan. I want to urge you, my brothers and sisters, to vote wisely in these elections and form a Congress government so that your problems could be looked into... This area has specific problems,” she said.
She also touched on sand mining rights for boatmen and, at the Sirsa Ghat halt, she said that the electorate has witnessed Congress governments during which schemes like MNREGS were launched and regretted that jobs have become scarce under the current dispensation.
Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati asked the Congress not to “spread confusion” and said that the BSP-SP-RLD alliance was capable of defeating the BJP on its own. She asked the Congress to go ahead and field candidates in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
“The Congress is free to field its candidates on all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. In other words, our alliance (of SP-BSP-RLD) is capable enough of defeating the BJP. The Congress should refrain from spreading confusion about leaving seven seats for the (SP-BSP-RLD) alliance,” Ms Mayawati tweeted.
“The BSP would like to make it clear once again that there is no alliance or understanding with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and anywhere in the country. Our party wrokers should not succumb to confusion being spread almost everyday by the Congress,” she said.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “In Uttar Pradesh, the SP, BSP and RLD alliance is capable of defeating the BJP. The Congress Party need not spread any kind of confusion”.
Polling will be held in seven phases in Uttar Pradesh from April 11 to May 19. Results will be announced on May 23.
The Congress on Sunday said it would leave more than a dozen Lok Sabha seats for other parties, including seven for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, two seats for Apna Dal.
While the SP and BSP had forged an alliance on 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the Congress has entered into an electoral agreement with the lesser known Jan Adhikar Party.
As per the SP-BSP-RLD deal, the SP will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats in UP and the BSP 38, leaving three for the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal and two for Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi).
The seats offered by the Congress include Mainpuri, Kannauj and Firozabad, all held by the SP, and those likely to be contested by the BSP chief and RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary, UP Congress chief Raj Babbar told reporters on Sunday.
He said that the Congress was reciprocating the gesture of the alliance which has left Rae Bareli (held by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi) and Amethi (held by Congress president Rahul Gandhi) for it.
