Tag: UP elections

  • UP election: RLD promises 50 per cent quota for women in government jobs, scrapping farm laws

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Maintaining that seat sharing with the Samajwadi Party will be finalised shortly, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary released his party’s 22-point sankalp patra (statement of vows) for the Uttar Pradesh polls.

    One crore jobs, 150% of cost as MSP to potato farmers (same MSP to cane farmers in the first season), a three-fold hike in old age pension and Rs 1 crore for every martyr (army and police personnel) formed the mainstays of the Sankalp Patra, which was released in Lucknow on Sunday.

    The payment to cane farmers, which would be equal to 1.5 times of the production cost in the first season would be made in 14 days.

    Another major sop was 50% reservation for women in government jobs.

    The RLD, which has been dominant in western UP but saw its presence shrunk to just one seat in 2017, also announced a sports policy, jobs to one crore youth, Rs 4 lakh assistance to every family ravaged by the pandemic, doctor in every village and medicines for every family and scholarships for the backward castes students.

    The Sankalp Patra also promised to set up separate HC benches in eastern UP, western UP and Bundelkhand, besides the promise of passing resolution against the three new farm laws.

    “We’re in talks with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and very soon the best seat sharing formula will be sorted out unanimously,” Chaudhary said. 

  • As SBSP cozies up to Akhilesh, BJP bags support of seven parties ahead of UP polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: A group of seven small parties have announced support to the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, close on the heels of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) forming an alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

    SP and SBSP leaders had shared the dais in Mau on Wednesday and announced that they would together trounce the BJP in the 2022 elections.

    The SBSP, the main constituent of the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’, and the SP will hold eight rallies in the state in November and these rallies will be addressed by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar told PTI in Ballia on Thursday.

    Meanwhile, the ‘Hissedari Morcha’ comprising seven small parties on Wednesday had announced its support to the BJP in the assembly elections, according to a statement issued by the saffron party.

    Leaders of the seven parties on Wednesday had handed letters to state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh extending their support.

    The leaders include Kewat Ramdhani Bind of the Bharatiya Manav Samaj Party, Chandra Vanvasi of the Musahar Andolan Manch and Babulal Rajbhar of the Shoshit Samaj Party.

    Others are Krishna Gopal Singh Kashyap of the Manav Hit Party, Bhim Rajbhar of the Bharatiya Suheldev Janata Party, Chandan Singh Chauhan of the Prithviraj Janshakti Party and Mahendra Prajapati of the Bharatiya Samata Samaj Party.

    In the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had stitched an alliance with the SBSP.

    The latter was given eight seats of which it won four.

    Though Om Prakash Rajbhar was made a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, he broke the alliance before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and formed the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’, roping in the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi and some other smaller parties.

    On rumours of a rift with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Rajbhar said he had spoken to the latter and requested him to join the newly-formed alliance.

    “Owaisi has assured that he will talk to his people in this regard and inform me about his decision,” Rajbhar said.

    Leaders of the other constituents of the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’ — Bhim Army, Jan Adhikar Party, Rashtriya Uday Party, Rashtriya Upekshit Samaj Party and Janata Kranti Party — too did not attend the SP-SBSP rally on Wednesday.

    The SBSP president claimed that he entered into a coalition with the SP on the advice of Owaisi, Shivpal Singh Yadav of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Chandrashekhar Azad of the Azad Samaj Party.

    Rajbhar had earlier said that the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha would announce its future course of action on October 27, the SBSP’s foundation day.

    However, the absence of the Morcha’s prominent leaders in Mau on Wednesday has led to speculations of the Sankalp Morcha falling apart with the coming together of the SP and the SBSP.

  • Priyanka is ‘Twitter Vadra’, big achievement if Congress retains its 7 seats: Keshav Maurya

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Dismissing any challenge from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday mockingly called her “Twitter Vadra” and said it would be a big achievement for her if the Congress retains its seven seats in next year’s Assembly polls.

    The senior BJP leader also brushed aside contest from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), saying they should feel happy if they secure the number of seats they got in the 2017 polls.

    Maurya also refused to accord any importance to the Aam Aadmi Party and Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM, describing them as “vote katwa” (spoiler of votes).

    Asked as to who will be the CM face of the BJP in the elections, Maurya who had lost the race to Yogi Adityanath last time sounded evasive, saying it is his party’s central leadership that decides after consultation with legislators.

    Downplaying the announcement made by the Congress leader that her party will give 40 per cent tickets to women, Maurya said it would be “big achievement” for the Congress if it repeats its feat of getting seven MLAs in the polls.

    “The Congress does not exist in UP. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, they got two MPs from UP and in 2019 Lok Sabha election, it was further reduced to one MP,” he said.

    “Similarly, in the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the Congress got seven seats and in the 2022 polls, if it manages to repeat the figure of seven, then it will be a big achievement,” he told PTI in an interview.

    “Almost the same is the condition of the SP and the BSP, whose tenure people have not forgotten, and will never forget as corruption, crime, encouragement to mafia, casteism and appeasement dominated,” Maurya said.

    The SP had bagged 47 seats out of 403 in the previous elections while Mayawati’s party had to settle for 19 seats.

    Maurya said though both parties are talking about backwards, Dalits and upper castes, they are not well-wishers of anyone.

    “They only want to gain power, exploit people and fill their pockets with public money,” Maurya alleged.

    When asked as to whether he feels that Priyanka has established herself as an alternative to the BJP in UP, Maurya said, “I think you (media) are seeing her more in the role of an opposition. I call Priyanka Gandhi Vadraji as Twitter Vadra. I don’t think that barring those interested in getting their photographs clicked, there is anyone in the Congress.”

    “Yes, they have an expertise in getting their photographs clicked, be it Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi or any other leader of the Congress. In the race of getting their photos clicked they are ahead of the SP and the BSP. But, these three parties have failed to make any place in public’s heart,” he claimed.

    On the question who will be the CM face of the BJP, Maurya said, “Who am I to decide this. We have our central leadership. The central observers come and the leader of the legislative party is elected by newly-elected MLAs in the presence of central observers.”

    “At present, respected Yogi Adityanathji is our chief minister, and Yogiji and we are making efforts to ensure victory for the BJP in the UP elections,” he added.

    Maurya, who as the BJP state unit chief had played a crucial role in mobilising support of the non-Yadav OBC castes for the party in the 2017 elections, said there is “no challenge” to the BJP.

    “In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, we won 325 seats and our endeavour is that how can we win more than 325 seats this time. This is a challenge for us,” he said.

    Most promises that the party had made to people have been fulfilled and this has been done in a span of three-and-half years, he claimed, adding that about one-and-half year was lost to COVID-19.

    The work done by this government will comprehensively outweigh the work done by the SP and the BSP in 15 years, he claimed.

    On SP chief Akhilesh Yadav claiming that his party will win 400 seats, Maurya said, “How many seats was Akhilesh Yadav claiming to win in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in the 2017 UP Assembly elections? In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he even dreamt of becoming the prime minister. Eventually, the claims of the SP were found to be hollow.”

    “At the ground level, their organisation has no one except criminals and mafia. They do politics on the basis of caste and appeasement, from which Uttar Pradesh has come out,” he said.

    On the opposition parties resorting to “soft-Hindutva”, Maurya said, “This is the ideological victory of the BJP.

  • UP polls: AAP launches public reachout programme in Noida promising free electricity up to 300 units

    By PTI

    NOIDA: AAP has begun reaching out to voters in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh ahead of the upcoming state Assembly polls, promising them free electricity up to 300 units, party office-bearers said on Tuesday.

    Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gautam Buddh Nagar unit president Bhupendra Jadaun said the “free electricity” campaign was launched by the party’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge, Sanjay Singh, from Sultanpur district on October 10.

    “Under the campaign, which has got a good response from the people so far, AAP workers are reaching out to the voters in all the three Assembly constituencies here — Noida, Jewar and Dadri,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Congress announcing 40% tickets to women in UP polls ‘pure election drama’: Mayawati

    “AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has promised that if the party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, 300 units of electricity will be provided to the people free of cost.

    Free electricity will be provided to farmers and their outstanding dues would be waived,” Jadaun said in a statement.

    As part of the campaign, AAP workers have started the “Free Bijli ki Baat, Janta ke Saath” outreach programme, where a “guarantee card” is being given to every household in the district, he said.

    “We believe that going to the public with issues of basic amenities will get us the love and support of the people,” the AAP leader added.

  • SBSP chief Rajbhar hints at return to old alliance with BJP ahead of 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: As the battle for Uttar Pradesh, due early next year, is inching closer, a fast-paced realignment of political forces is taking place. In a surprising move, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar is hinting at a return to his old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.

    Rajbhar, who had parted ways with the NDA ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in view of differences over seat allocation, had earlier swore never to go along with the saffron party again, saying it would be no less than committing political suicide for his party.

    Rajbhar, who heads the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha (BSM), a conglomerate of 10 smaller regional groups as well as Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, now claims that if the BJP accepts his demands formulated in the larger interest of society, the BSM was ready to go along with it.

    “In the interest of society, we went to the BJP with the report of the Social Justice Committee, but they did not listen to us. Now, if the BJP accepts it, then we can go with them also,” Rajbhar says. He adds that every possibility must be kept alive in politics.

    Giving an open offer to mainstream parties for an alliance, Rajbhar added that he would go with whichever party accepts the issues raised by the BSM.

    However, as per highly placed sources, Rajbhar has already opened channels for talks with the BJP leadership. Besides accepting the social justice committee report, Rajbhar’s other demands include free education till post-graduation, waiver of domestic electricity bill, prohibition of liquor, border limit of police, weekly leave to police force and same facilities for home guards as police.

    Simultaneously, Rajbhar is also expanding the BSM. After clinching an alliance with the AIMIM, he held talks with estranged Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav who has his own outfit—Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia. Rajbhar has also held talks with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad. “All these leaders are BJP rivals who had been doing anti-BJP politics all along and could not risk their political future by going along with the NDA. If Rajbhar goes along with the BJP, then his Bhagidari Morcha would disintegrate,” says Prof AK Mishra, a prominent political scientist.

    Prof Mishra adds that the question of Owaisi and Chandrashekhar going with the BJP doesn’t arise. Moreover, Shivpal is still hopeful of stitching some understanding with the Samajwadi Party. “Only Rajbhar along with other members of BSM will go with the BJP,” he observed.

    However, the final declaration on the matter will be made on October 27 in the BSM rally to be held in Mau district. Earlier, Rajbhar was a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath led NDA government. He had contested the 2017 UP assembly elections in alliance with the BJP but was removed as the minister of Backward Class Welfare in 2019.

  • UP polls: Congress to release first list of candidates soon

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday attended the meeting of the party’s state election committee here and it was decided that the first list of candidates for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will be released soon, a party leader said.

    On the fourth day of her state visit, Priyanka Gandhi met representatives of various communities, including Banjara, Rajbhar, and Nishad, and took note of the problems and issues being faced by them.

    Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Congress general secretary is on a five-day visit to Lucknow to review and discuss the party’s preparedness for the polls.

    Since her arrival, she has been holding a series of meetings at the party office and Kaul House — her residence-cum-office in the state capital.

    During one of the meetings, she discussed the setting up of “war rooms” at district levels to receive feedback and take prompt decisions as part of the election strategy.

    The party’s proposed ‘pratigya yatra’ was finalised after its route was discussed and the booth management strategy for the polls was chalked out as well, a leader said.

    This is Priyanka Gandhi’s second visit to the state within a month.

    She had earlier arrived on September 13 and stayed for five days.

    The Congress party had fought the 2017 UP polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

    The grand old party had managed to win just seven of the 114 contested seats with a vote share of 6.25 per cent.

    This time, the Congress has announced that it would fight the polls without aligning with any big political party.

  • Akhilesh Yadav promises caste census, cheap electricity in UP if voted to power

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday promised to go in for the caste census in Uttar Pradesh and provide cheap electricity to people and jobs to youths in the state if voted to power.

    He made the promises alleging that the BJP-led central government is fighting shy of conducting caste census in the country, fearing that it will lead to the backward classes of people demanding their rights and due respect.

    “The BJP government at the Centre does not want to conduct caste census as it knows that backwards will demand their right and due respect after it. This is the biggest demand of backwards and Dalits,” Akhilesh Yadav said in a statement here.

    Promising caste census in Uttar Pradesh if his party is voted to power in 2022 assembly polls, Akhilesh said, “We will ensure that backwards get their rights.”

    Alleging that the crime rate in UP has grown exponentially, Akhilesh Yadav said, “The chief minister lies on the matter of crime and does not have any information on the NCRB data.”

    “The highest number of crimes against women is committed in UP,” he asserted.

    He also reiterated his charge that veteran SP leader Azam Khan is being kept in jail in false cases.

    “Azam Khan has been kept in jail in fake cases,” he said, adding maximum custodial deaths in the state have occurred during the present BJP regime.

    “The CM visits his home district Gorakhpur regularly but crime is rising there,” he alleged, adding police beat up a Kanpur businessman, visiting there, to death.

    “Even saints are not safe in UP where over 40 sadhu and saints have been killed,” he said.

    Terming the governance in UP “a complete failure”, Akhilesh said, “Common men are not heard. The BJP MLAs and MPs have to face the people’s opposition in their own areas.”

    He said the Centre is on a privatisation spree and if everything will be privatised, there will be no need of implementing reservation.

    On the Covid vaccination drive, he asked, “Why do the vaccination certificates not carry the photograph of the national flag?” He said the government should withdraw three farm laws as it would help business houses take away farmers’ land.

    “The farmers will teach a lesson to the BJP in the coming assembly polls,” he predicted.

    Addressing a rally in Kannauj, Akhilesh promised that electricity will be cheap and youths will get employment in large scale.

    “If voted to power, the SP government will provide cheap electricity and give jobs to youths in large numbers,” he said.

    Akhilesh was in Kannauj to unveil the statue of former party MLA Kaptan Singh Yadav.

  • Battle 2022: Priyanka Gandhi envisages ‘war rooms’ to fight UP assembly poll

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday envisaged setting up “war rooms” right up to district level, aimed at receiving feedback from the ground and taking prompt decisions on emergent issues as part of the 2022 UP assembly polls strategy.

    Priyanka Gandhi mooted the idea while deliberating upon various strategies to be adopted by the party in preparation for the upcoming state assembly polls during a meeting with the party’s state unit leaders.

    The other issues that she discussed included the route of the party’s ‘Pratigya Yatra’, setting up training camps for booth management and party units at the village level, party leaders said.

    “At the meeting with party leaders at her residence here, Priyanka Ji also discussed the route for the party’s proposed ‘Pratigya Yatra’. Training camps, setting up of war rooms and party’s Gram Sabha units were also deliberated upon,” UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu told reporters.

    “She also deliberated upon various local and national issues on which the assembly elections may be fought, he said, adding the selections of candidates and the application process for them too were discussed,” Lallu said.

    “We are preparing to fight on all the 403 assembly seats in the state under the leadership of Priyanka Ji we will form the government in the state,” Lallu said.

    About the proposed “war rooms”, the party leaders said they would be set up right up to the district level to keep an eye over the area and would be manned by a spokesperson and some senior leaders of the area to take a prompt decision on any emergent issue.

    The party leaders also discussed the booth management strategy considered important for the polls, they added.

    Congress Legislative party leader Aradhana Mishra said “Priyanka Ji will be here for five days during which she would be holding party meetings at her residence-cum-office in Lucknow”.

    On if she plans to visit Raebareli also, Mishra said, “Raebareli is her home, she can go there whenever she wants.”

    Priyanka Gandhi had arrived here on Monday on a five-day visit to review and discuss the party’s preparedness for the next year’s state assembly polls, This is her second visit to the state this month.

    Earlier on September 13, she had visited UP for five days during which she had exhorted party workers to work round-the-clock for the next year’s elections.

    The Congress party had fought the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

    The grand old party had managed to win just seven of the 114 seats it had contested with a vote share of 6.25 per cent.

    This time, the Congress party has announced that it would fight the 2022 polls without aligning with any big political party.

  • Unease over AIMIM’s move to contest Uttar Pradesh polls on issue of giving leadership to Muslims

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The decision of Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) to contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the main issue of giving leadership to Muslims has created an unease among parties which consider them as their core vote bank.

    Different castes, including Jatavs, Yadavs, Rajbhars and Nishads, which constitute a relatively small part of Uttar Pradesh’s population, have more or less their own leadership, but Muslims, which constitute more than 19 per cent of the population, do not see any such leadership.

    There are 82 assembly seats in the state where Muslim voters are in a position to make or botch political fortunes, but they have nothing in the name of political participation.

    Whether it is the Samajwadi Party, which gets the most votes of Muslims, or the BSP, which talks about Dalit-Muslim unity for social justice, no one has given leadership to Muslims.

    Owaisi is making this the basis of his election campaign in the state.

    AIMIM national spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar told PTI on Sunday that the main goal of his party is to create a political thought and leadership among Muslims for the progress of their community and a better future.

    “Even the so-called secular parties, which were getting the votes of Muslims, never allowed a Muslim leadership to emerge,” he said.

    He said that now when Owaisi is talking about giving leadership to Muslims, there has been “an uproar among the parties which consider this community as their political slave”.

    Opinion of experts differ on the question on whether Muslims, after the rise of Hindutva politics, have become aware enough to create their own acceptable leadership.

    Political analyst Parvez Ahmed believes this time the ‘Owaisi factor’ will definitely have an impact on the assembly elections.

    “The reason for this is that after the rise of hardline Hindutva politics in the country, a large section of Muslims has started to understand the importance of their separate leadership.

    SP, BSP and parties which claim to be Muslim friendly have kept silence on the issues of Muslims,” he said.

    The idea is now gaining strength in the Muslim community that if it does not have any leadership of its own, then the alleged atrocities against them will only increase, he added.

    He said this time Owaisi is not on the target of BJP but those parties which till now have been trying to get Muslim votes by creating fear of the BJP among voters.

    “These parties are doing such propaganda that Owaisi is trying to benefit the BJP by cutting Muslim votes in the state,” he said.

    Ahmed said that a section of Muslims are pondering over what harm the BJP has done to them.

    “The Muzaffarnagar riots, which left a mark of fear on the minds of Muslims, took place not during the BJP regime but during the SP rule.

    During the regime of Yogi Adityanath, there was no such riot in which Muslims were specifically targeted.

    The share of Muslims in government jobs in the state is less than two percent, while the Congress and other non-BJP governments have ruled the state for the longest time,” he said.

    According to Census-2011 data, the share of Muslims in the population of the state is 19.

    26 percent.

    Muslims can play a decisive role in the 82 assembly constituencies out of the 403 in the state.

    Muslims constitute 50.

    57 percent of the population in Rampur.

    Apart from this they are 47.

    12 per cent in Moradabad, 43.

    04 per cent in Bijnor, 41.

    95 per cent in Saharanpur, 41.

    30 per cent in Muzaffarnagar, 40.

    78 per cent in Amroha and above 30 per cent in Balrampur, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Meerut, Bahraich, Gonda and Shravasti.

    Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai believes that the issue of giving leadership to Muslims has come to the fore in more or less every assembly election in the state, but it never took off and Muslims often vote for the SP or BSP.

    “Different sections of Muslims and their own aspirations have also been an obstacle in the way of giving them a universal leadership.

    This time in the assembly elections, there is not much awareness among Muslim voters about preparing their leadership,” he said.

    He said that Owaisi is trying on the model of the last assembly elections in Bihar and Maharashtra.

    “He got success in Bihar because he had got some good candidates who had their own mass base.

    But in Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi does not seem to get much success as most of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh have been voting outright for the same party which is capable of defeating the BJP,” he said.

    However, Kidwai believes that in recent times, a kind of political extremism is coming in the country, which is currently not possible to stop.

    “In such a situation, there is definitely a desire for a leadership among the Muslims, but the point of departure has not yet come that they should recognise any one party as a universal leadership,” he said.

    The AIMIM has decided to contest 100 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.

    Owaisi’s party is part of the Bhagadari Morcha formed by Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) President Om Prakash Rajbhar.

    Through this, he is hoping that the new formula of backward classes and Muslim voters will prove to be effective.

    It remains to be seen how this exercise turns out.

    PTI SLM ABN DV DV 09261054 NNNN

  • Priyanka Gandhi tours Rae Bareli constituency to energise workers in view of UP assembly polls

    By PTI

    RAE BARELI: Faced with a stiff challenge to halt Congress’s slide in Uttar Pradesh, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday began a tour of Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli constituency to energise workers for the electoral battle for UP scheduled early next year.

    Priyanka Gandhi, during her meeting with party workers, said that the Congress this time, plans to declare candidates well in time for the state assembly elections, a party leader told PTI.

    Beginning the two-day tour of her mother’s parliamentary constituency, Priyanka Gandhi made the first pit stop at a Hanuman temple in Churuva on the Lucknow-Rae Bareli border, and offered prayers.

    Rae Bareli, the bastion of the Gandhi family since the days of Indira Gandhi, has five assembly seats out of which two are with the Congress and the BJP each, and one is with the Samajwadi Party.

    Congress president Sonia Gandhi represents the Rae Bareli constituency in the Lok Sabha.

    The parliamentary constituency of Rae Bareli consists of Bachhrawan (SC), Harchandpur, Rae Bareli, Sareni and Unchahar assembly segments.

    In the 2017 UP assembly elections, the Congress registered wins in Harchandpur and Rae Bareli assembly constituencies.

    Rakesh Singh and Aditi Singh won from Harchandpur and Rae Bareli respectively.

    BJP’s Ram Naresh Rawat won from Bachhrawan (SC) and Dhirendra Bahadur Singh won from Sareni.

    Unchahar is represented in the state assembly by Manoj Kumar Pandey of the Samajwadi Party.

    Elaborating on Priyanka Gandhi’s meeting with party workers, spokesperson of the District Congress Committee of Rae Bareli Vinay Dwivedi told PTI, “Office bearers of the district unit and city unit of the party met Priyanka ji.

    Members of various frontal organisations, party candidates and zila panchayat members of the Congress also met her.”

    At the meeting, she said that party candidates will be declared well in time as the declaration of candidates was rather late in the previous elections, Dwivedi said.

    He added that the meeting which started on Sunday morning continued till evening.

    “She also went to Tiloi in the neighbouring district of Amethi, after some party workers from Amethi informed her about an accident.

    She will tour the rural area of Rae Bareli before leaving for Lucknow,” he said.

    Priyanka Gandhi visited Dodarpur village in Amethi’s Tiloi area where three children died in a wall collapse on September 6.

    The Congress general secretary reached Todarpur village at around 8 pm and met family members of the deceased.

    Priyanka Gandhi consoled them and assured of all possible help.

    She also inquired about the well-being of two other children who were injured in the accident.

    The deceased were Vansh (5), Satyam (10) and Divyanshi (7).

    The injured were Ashish (9) and Shiva (7).

    The Congress was reduced to seven seats in the 2017 UP assembly polls and now the grand old party is looking at the party secretary general for a turnaround in the heartland of politics.

    The Congress’s fortunes took a downward slide after the Ram Janmabhoomi issue took centre-stage in the early 90s.

    Upon her arrival in Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi was welcomed by party leaders and workers.

    Subsequently, she was welcomed and garlanded in Bachhravan, Harchandpur, Jagdishpur village and Civil Lines area of the city.

    From there, her cavalcade proceeded towards the Bhuyemau guest house, UP Congress media panelist Priyanka Gupta said.

    The neighbouring Amethi Lok Sabha constituency consists of the assembly segments of Tiloi, Salon (SC), Jagdishpur (SC), Gauriganj and Amethi.

    In the 2017 elections in the state, the BJP emerged victorious in the constituencies of Tiloi, Salon, Jagdishpur and Amethi, while the SP registered a win from the Gauriganj assembly constituency.

    Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tasted defeat at Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections at the hands of Union minister Smriti Irani.

    Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi slammed the Yogi Adityanath dispensation over the use of a purported image of a Kolkata flyover in an Uttar Pradesh government advertisement, saying the people of the state have seen through their “false claims” and are going to change the chief minister and the government.