Sonia Gandhi said the Congress party has come with a "new vision" for politics in Uttar Pradesh
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of doing nothing in five years except dividing people, and claimed that it had meted out "step-motherly" treatment to her constituency Raebareli.
In her maiden election speech for the ongoing UP polls, Sonia Gandhi also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, accusing them of mismanagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's going to be an important election because for the last five years you have seen a government which did nothing except divide people," Sonia Gandhi said during a virtual address on the last day of campaign for the fourth phase.
Sonia Gandhi is the Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli, where voting will take place on February 23 on all five assembly seats of Raebareli (Sadar), Harchandpur, Bachchrawan, Sareni and Unchahar.
"We had brought several development schemes for you but the Modi-Yogi government banned all of them. Step-motherly treatment was meted out to Raebareli," Sonia Gandhi said.
"You have seen the politics of Congress which is based on service of people and giving rights to people," she said.
She said Congress workers have worked really hard in UP in the last five years and 8,000 party workers were jailed while fighting for the rights of the people in the state.
"Brothers and sisters, I consider myself an inseparable part of your family. We are committed to pursuing a politics which makes your life better. We want to give you an MLA who works day and night for you, and makes policies that empower you," Sonia Gandhi said.
"In this election, strengthen the 'hand' (party symbol) of the Congress and select the politics which will make your future better. Ensure victory of all our candidates in Raebareli with a huge mandate," she appealed.
The Congress is faced with stiff challenge in Raebareli as its both MLAs (Aditi Singh from Raebareli and Sadar Rakesh Singh from Harchandpur) have crossed over to the BJP and are fighting on the lotus symbol.
The five assembly seats have a combined voter count of over 17 lakh, including around eight lakh women. The district, adjoining Lucknow, has a population of around 30 lakh.
After winning over Amethi, once a so-called bastion of the Congress, the BJP is making every effort to completely wash out the grand old party in Sonia Gandhi's home turf of Raebareli in the 2022 UP polls.
Noting that the Congress brought in a legislation like MNREGA to empower people with the right to work and help them have a better life, Sonia Gandhi said it is a pity that during a crisis (pandemic), the budget for MNREGA was reduced instead of being increased.
She recalled how people faced difficult times during the peak of the Covid pandemic, unable to get oxygen, medicines and even beds in hospitals and many lost their loved ones.
On the other hand, she noted that the pandemic also disrupted the work and business of many people while many endured the pain of having to walk for miles on foot during the lockdown.
"The Modi-Yogi government gave proof of how irresponsible they are. They turned away their faces from your problems and shut their eyes to your woes. Not only this, their behaviour towards you was also not good during the lockdown. The government did not provide you any relief," she said.
She also targeted the Centre and the state government over the issues of farmers, youth and inflation.
She said farmers work hard to grow crops for everyone but in the last five years they neither got an appropriate price for their produce, nor fertilizers or facilities for irrigation.
"Farmers got under burden of debt while stray animals kept ruining their crops," Sonia Gandhi said.
Similar is the condition of the youth, who study hard and prepare for jobs but the BJP government forced them to sit at home, she said.
"There are 12 lakh vacant government jobs in the state but you were not given jobs," the Congress chief noted.
She said the price of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and mustard oil have become unaffordable for people and running a household has become difficult, and added that inflation also hit women who somehow managed to save small amounts of money.
Hitting out at the government over the unemployment situation, Gandhi said instead of reducing the burden of people, the government sold out many companies at low prices to its "friends", which resulted in joblessness.
She said the Congress party has come with a "new vision" for politics in Uttar Pradesh.
"Jobs for youth, rights to women, facilities to farmers and relief to everyone from inflation are envisioned under this new politics," Sonia Gandhi said.
"We have prepared 'shakti vidhan' for women, 'bharti vidhan' for youth and 'unnati vidhan' for development of UP. I am happy that Priyanka has allotted 40 per cent of the party ticket to women candidates this time," she added.
The elections to the 403 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases this time from February 10 to March 7. Results of all phases will be declared on March 10.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)