Likening Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the character of an arrogant king, 'ahankari raja', from stories of yore, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said he is unable to understand that the 'jawan' who has kept the country safe is also the son of a farmer.
Senior party leader P Chidambaram, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed support to Priyanka, who has alleged that no notice or first information report (FIR) has been given to her even after her 38-hour detention and was not allowed to meet her legal counsel.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maneka Gandhi on Sunday hit out at Priyanka Gandhi over her reported remarks that her son Varun Gandhi had gone "astray", saying the country will decide who has gone on the wrong path.
A Congress worker died during a protest near the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in Lucknow, India, on Wednesday. The Congress party alleged the worker, Prabhat Pandey, died due to "police brutality," while police said he was brought to the hospital unconscious and had no visible injury marks. An investigation is underway, and a post-mortem is to be conducted by a panel of doctors.
'I have joined the Congress to save the Constitution of the country'
"Prime Minister Modi is not a leader, he is an actor. It would have been better if Amitabh Bachchan was made the prime minister," she said at an election meeting at the end of her roadshow in Mirzapur.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
Congress general secretary and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will flag off three Pratigya Yatras from Barabanki on Saturday to take to the people various resolutions adopted by the party ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.
The Congress would also take inspiration from history as it was from Karnataka that an embattled Indira Gandhi had revived her dwindling political future by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Chikmagalur.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh are among those named by the party as its star campaigners in Uttar Pradesh.
The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP's Sanjaya Sinh.
'Every Congress leader in UP and the rest of India is calling me and thanking me that finally someone spoke about this JNU gang ruling the Congress party in UP.'
'There are too many competent people better suited and poised to take on Modi. The Gandhis are not among them,' argues Harishchandra.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
Will Priyanka contest against Modi in Varanasi? Will Rahul also contest from Karnataka? Rasheed Kidwai -- Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party's biographer -- reveals what is churning in the Congress.
Local residents have stressed that land acquisition for rehabilitation must be completed promptly, as it has been delayed after estate owners challenged it in the Kerala high court.
In a dig at Adityanath's earlier warning that rioters damaging public property will have to pay, the Congress general secretary said saffron denotes Hinduism, a religion that does not advocate violence or 'revenge'.
An Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson said a formal order for all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route in the state was likely to be issued soon.
Adityanath's office hit back at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for commenting his saffron clothes, saying the CM wore saffron robes for 'public service after sacrificing everything'.
'The Governor is pleased to appoint Justice High Court, Allahabad (retd) Pradeep Kumar Srivastava as a single-member Commission of enquiry with Headquarters at Lakhimpur Kheri'
Priyanka said the presence of Gandhis in the party would impede the functioning of a non-family president only if her family wanted things to be that way.
Hitting the campaign trail in Uttar Pradesh, Congress' star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi on Friday asked the electorate to realise the strength of their vote and exercise their franchise for a change in the state where politics over the last 22 years has become totally "religion and caste-based".
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday declared 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls including actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in popular TV serial Ramayan, from Meerut, while replacing sitting MP Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit with state minister Jitin Prasada.
Her name figures among the 40 star campaigners that the Congress has finalised and forwarded to the Election Commission on Tuesday for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh polls.
The people of Amethi want to rectify their 'mistake' of 2019 and Congress workers as well as leaders are demanding that Rahul Gandhi contest from the constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party's Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai said.
'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Priyanka said the party's fight will continue till the laws are scrapped.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party of talking about terrorism during the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections while diverting attention from the 'central discourse' on unemployment, inflation, empowering women and helping small businesses and farmers.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday met families of four deceased farmers, who had allegedly faced shortage of fertilisers in Lalitpur, and charged that the fertiliser distribution system of Uttar Pradesh has failed due to collusion among black marketers, officials and leaders.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said that the family members of Navreet Singh, who died in an accident during the farmers' tractor rally in the national capital on Republic Day want a judicial inquiry into farmer's death.
The BJP sought to distance itself from its leader's sexist comments.
'The Modi government's lack of foresight has compelled India to become an importer of vaccines today and even now, their "vaccine strategy is flawed and discriminatory'
"Priyanka is a good woman. But her appointment also shows Rahul has understood that he cannot do politics alone, so he asked his sister Priyanka to help him," Mahajan said.
On the basis of SIT's first report, UP CM has already suspended the Hathras SP, DSP and some other police officers.
'About 90 per cent of our netas have no loyalty and will go with the winner.'
Ramesh, however, dismissed suggestions that Priyanka taking centrestage in campaigning in Uttar Pradesh showed poorly on the leadership of Rahul.
The administration has also ordered to seal the borders of Hathras district. The decision was taken to maintain law and order in the district, which hogged limelight after a 19-year-old Dalit gang rape victim from the district died at a Delhi hospital on Tuesday.
There is "dictatorship" in India now with politicians not being allowed to visit Uttar Pradesh to meet the families of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Rahul said.
State deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya among 692 candidates are contesting on 61 seats spread across 12 districts in the fifth phase.
The Congress on Wednesday criticized the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government for a stampede at the Sangam during the Maha Kumbh, blaming mismanagement and a focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees for the tragic incident. Rahul Gandhi called for reining in "VIP culture" and improving arrangements for devotees. Congress leaders expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and demanded action to prevent such incidents in the future.
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