No stopping Priyanka: Smartphones, scooters for girls if Cong wins UP

Just a day after announcing that the Congress will reserve 40 per cent of its tickets for women in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday tweeted that smartphones and electric scooters will be provided to girls if the Congress returned to power in the state.

The Congress hasn’t formed a government in the crucial UP in three decades, and has now rested all its hopes on Priyanka to revive its fortunes ahead of the state elections next year.

“I met some girl students on Wednesday… they told me that they needed smartphones for study and security purposes… I am happy to announce that the UP Congress, with the consent of the manifesto committee, has decided that all girls, who have cleared Intermediate, will be given smartphones… those who have cleared graduation, will be given an electronic scooty,” Priyanka tweeted in Hindi.

Deccan Herald quoted a senior UP Congress leader as saying: “Women issues are on top of Priyanka’s agenda… she has made it clear that the Congress will harp on the issues concerning welfare and safety of women in the state.”

On Tuesday, when declaring the “pratigya” (pledge) to field nearly 160 women candidates, Priyanka, the election in-charge for UP, said: “When I came to UP for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign, I had met some girls from Allahabad University who told me that the varsity and hostel had different rules for boys and girls. This is a decision for them. This is a decision for the woman who, during my Ganga Yatra, hailed my boat back to the riverbank to tell me that her village doesn’t have a school… This is a decision for Paro of Prayagraj who wants to come into politics. This is for Vaishnavi in Chandauli who wants to become an Air Force pilot like her martyred brother. This is a decision for the girl in Unnao who was burnt and killed, whose sister-in-law is fighting for justice even today. This decision is for the mother (of the girl who was gang-raped by upper caste men and then succumbed to her injuries) in Hathras who hugged me and told me that she is not getting justice. This decision is for Ramesh Kashyap’s (a local journalist killed in Lakhimpur on October 3) daughter who wants to become a doctor… This is for every woman of UP who wants change, equality and justice.”

According to Congress insiders, Priyanka is expected to make more promises to the people of UP ahead of the polls. She was handpicked by her brother, Rahul Gandhi, for the task of reviving the Congress which five years ago could win just half a dozen of UP’s 403 Assembly seats.

Also read: UP people will make us win 400 seats in upcoming polls: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav