New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Monday launched the party’s campaign in Madhya Pradesh, where assembly assembly elections are due later this year.
Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, Priyanka announced a slew of promises for voters: Old Pension Scheme (involving no contribution from employee pay), free electricity up to 100 units and half price up to 200 units, Rs 1,500 per month for women, and LPG cylinders at Rs 500. She also said farm loan waivers started in 2018 will be completed.
The Congress had emerged as the single-largest party in the 2018 elections and went on to form the state government, but lost power after a rebellion led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who defected to the BJP along with over 20 MLAs in 2020. A BJP government was subsequently sworn in under Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
While announcing the Congress’ promises, Priyanka said the party “will implement these guarantees 100 percent”.
“This is my promise to you,” she added, asking voters to see the party’s record in other states it leads.
“In Karnataka, we gave five guarantees, all have been passed by the cabinet. In Rajasthan, there is Old Pension Scheme. All election promises are being implemented. In Chhattisgarh, farmers are getting the highest price for their crops. In Himachal also we are implementing (our promises),” she said.
During Priyanka’s visit to the state, there were enough signs of what the Congress campaign might look like. Before the Jabalpur rally, Priyanka performed puja at Gwarighat on the banks of the river Narmada. She was accompanied by former chief minister Kamal Nath and several other party leaders.
Nath said later at the rally, “Priyanka ji had told me that I will only start the campaign after the puja of Narmada ji.”
Priyanka also started her speech with chants of “Har har Narmade!! Narmada Devi ki jai”.
All-out attack on Shivraj govt
At her rally, Priyanka launched an all-out attack on Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s years in governance — he has served as CM for over 16 years — alleging rising corruption, unemployment and inflation.
In “220 months of governance, 225 scams” have happened, she said. “Nearly one scam every month. Have you thought about how that affects your life? Corruption’s biggest impact is on the public. Because the attention is diverted from the public,” she added. “Things that should happen for you don’t happen.”
“They have been in government for 18 years. When someone stays in government for this long, there comes laziness,” she said. “He (Chouhan) thinks that he will not leave the government. This is clear in their behaviour.”
She referred to Chouhan as “ghoshnaveer“, implying he made empty announcements. “Your chief minister is ‘ghoshnaveer’. In 18 years, they made 22,000 announcements. From all the announcements, probably 1 per cent were completed.”
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka said the BJP’s “list of scams is longer than the Prime Minister’s list of insults”, referring to his remarks during the 2023 Karnataka campaign where he accused the Congress of lobbing insults at him.
Priyanka also took a potshot at Scindia, who is currently the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, without naming him.
“It makes me sad that some of our leaders from Madhya Pradesh left (the party) for power,” she said. “They forgot their ideology.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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