Giving fresh fodder to rumours on her contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said she will contest the elections if her party asks her.
However, she said her own wish is to work for the party’s organisation.
“If my party asks me to contest the polls, I will definitely do so. But my personal wish is to work for the party’s organisation as a lot of work needs to be done,” the Congress leader told reporters in Amethi.
She said, “I have told party workers that it is very important you campaign properly this election. You should go to each and every house, and tell people that this election is to save the nation. Not Rahul Gandhi, but the nation should win this election.”
Speaking while campaigning for the upcoming General Election in Amethi, Priyanka asked her party workers to prepare for the UP assembly polls that are scheduled to be held in 2022.
Taking on UP Chief Minister’s Yogi Adityanath’s jibe that she visits temples only during elections, Priyanka Gandhi asked whether he knows anything about her.
In an oblique reference to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley dig at the Congress’ minimum income promise, she said her party preaches what it practices.
“See the Congress had said that it will waive off the loans of farmers, and within 10 days of coming to power in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, it was done,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
Hitting back at BJP’s criticism of previous Congress governments failing to remove property, she said, “Obviously all the problems have not been solved. Obviously, some people are still poor. A large number of people are suffering. But there is a lot of work that has been done.”
She said the issues on which her party is fighting this election are farm distress and lack of jobs.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced a Minimum Income Guarantee scheme called Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) under which 25 crore poor people (5 crore families) in the country will get financial assistance of Rs 72,000 per annum if his party is voted to power at the Centre.
Reacting to the announcement, Jaitley had said that the Congress sop for poor was “a bluff”, and slammed the party for its “history of not doing anything for the poor”.
Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday began a three-day election tour of Amethi, Raebareli and Ayodhya.
Earlier this month, she had taken the river route to visit parts of eastern UP including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi.
(With PTI inputs)