The Congress leader said this at a press conference, just hours after she arrived here on a two-day visit.

Earlier in the day, she sat on a silent protest in front of a Mahatma Gandhi statue against the BJP government in the state. Priyanka told reporters that the PM congratulated Adityanath for the panchayat polls, in which the BJP ''unleashed violence''.

''Your police were kidnapping candidates. Nomination papers were being torn. Women candidates were being beaten up. Their clothes were being pulled. In all districts, officials were threatened,'' she alleged.

''The Uttar Pradesh government itself is spreading chaos. It is doing this because in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, they totally failed, and the prime minister is giving certificates to Yogiji,'' the Congress general secretary said, adding that democracy is under threat in the state.

''There is a 'cheerharan' of democracy in Uttar Pradesh,'' she alleged. The Congress leader further said the prime minister on Thursday in Varanasi praised Adityanath on how well he did in the second wave of Covid-19 and claimed that development is taking place in Uttar Pradesh.

''I want to ask what kind of development is it. When there was the second wave of Covid, you held the panchayat elections. Many people contracted Covid-19 at the time of the elections. How was your system? No one knows how many teachers died due to Covid-19 but you conducted the elections because you thought that the results are in your favour," she said.

But when results did not come as per your expectations and when the elections for the posts of the block and district panchayat chiefs were held, you spread violence, she alleged attacking the state government.

She said this is not for the first time that the Constitution under attack. "I am are here to stand with the Constitution and speak in favour of people. We will not let this continue,'' she said.