Barabanki, Oct 23 (UNI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday sat down in the fields of Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki with the local women for about 30 minutes and asked them if they are interested in politics and wanted to contest polls.
She sat on the hay spread out by the women, as the girls told her they knew about Congress' new slogan, "Larki hu, Lar Sakti hu."
The Congress' in-charge of Uttar Pradesh was here to flag off three Pratigya Yatras in the state ahead of the 2022 assembly polls. While coming to Barabanki from Lucknow she held the women's chaupal at Harakh village.
She announced seven "Pratigya" (promises) to the people of the state, as she took out the pledge yatras, simultaneously in Varanasi and Saharanpur as well via video conferencing with the slogan "Hum Vachan Nibhayenga" (we will keep our promises).
These promises have started pouring in since October 20, when Priyanka Gandhi announced 40 per cent assembly seats to women, to which now she has added loan waiver for farmers, 20 lakh government jobs to youths, promise of support price of wheat-paddy Rs 2,500 per quintal and increase sugarcane MSP to Rs 400 per quintal.
Priyanka Gandhi also promised to give Rs 25,000 to the Covid-19 affected poor families and declared to cut electricity bills by half, besides the smart phones to inter-pass girls and scooty to graduate women.
She announced that her party will bring out a separate poll manifesto for women and urged women "to take the plunge into politics, grab the opportunity given by Congress".
The Congress leader defended that her announcement to give away smart phones and scooties to girls is not just a poll gimmick but it is a way to empower them.
Talking about the farm loan waivers, she said earlier also the UPA government had given Rs 72,000 crore loan waiver scheme that helped the farmers.
Giving details about 20 lakh government jobs, Priyanka said she has met several youths, who are working in the government departments but were not made permanent." We will fulfill their demands by making their jobs permanent," she said.
The three yatras will cover majority of districts in just 10 days and will end on November 3.
The Varanasi-Awadh yatra will start from Varanasi and end in Rae Bareli, which will cover Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Amethi districts and this route will be led by former MP Pramod Tiwari along with former MP Rajesh Mishra and former MLA Nadeem Javed.
The Barabanki-Bundelkhand will start from Barabanki and end in Jhansi, and will include Lucknow, Unnao, Fatehpur, Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur, Jalaun districts. This route will be led by former MP PL Punia, while other leaders would be former Union Minister Pradeep Jain Aditya and Chairman of Media Department and former state Minister Nasimuddin Siddiqui.
The third will start from Saharanpur and will end in Mathura, and will include Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun, Aligarh, Hathras, Agra districts. This yatra will be led by former Union Minister Salman Khurshid and Congress MP candidate from Lucknow Acharya Shri Pramod Krishnam.
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