Limits of dignity are crossed to retain the power” : Sonia Gandhi
RAE BARELI :Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra admonished party workers for not doing enough during the Lok Sabha elections. Priyanka Gandhi and her mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, visited Rae Bareli on Wednesday on a thanksgiving tour, their visit to Sonia Gandhi’s constituency after the parliamentary polls.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tore into Congress workers at her mother Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, declaring that since she had been “asked to speak”, she would not mince words about party men not doing enough to ensure victory. “I will find out about those who did not work for the party in the elections,” she declared.
The Congress had fared poorly in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls managing to win only one seat— Rae Bareli. Even Priyanka’s brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost his seat Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani. Rahul Gandhi from his family stronghold by a margin of 55,120 votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Congress chief had defeated Irani by a margin of over 1 lakh votes.
Priyanka Gandhi was appointed as the general secretary in-charge of east Uttar Pradesh just before the elections. She had campaigned for Congress candidates in UP and some other states. The Congress won just 52 seats in the Lok Sabha polls which saw Narendra Modi-led NDA come to power with a massive mandate winning 352 seats.
Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress General Secretary in charge of eastern UP, had accompanied Sonia Gandhi for a thanksgiving visit to Raebareli, the only constituency that the Congress won in 80-seat Uttar Pradesh in last month’s national election.
Her brother Rahul Gandhi, the Congress president, suffered a shock defeat in another family stronghold next door, Amethi. Despite Priyanka’s intense campaign in the last few days before voting, Rahul Gandhi lost to the BJP’s Smriti Irani from a constituency he had effortlessly won since 2004.
Priyanka Gandhi was among the Congress’s most vigorous campaigners, speaking at rallies in Raebareli and Amethi, as well as taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his stronghold of Varanasi.
Stunned by the scale of the defeat, Rahul Gandhi told his party’s top decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee, that he would not continue as its chief anymore. So far, the Congress has been unable to persuade him to change his mind. The party, according to reports, is debating the idea of an interim arrangement.
Also yesterday, Sonia Gandhi attacked the BJP, accusing the ruling party of “crossing limits of dignity” to retain power and deliver a second successive term in office for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In her first public address since election results were declared last month, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson also alleged that “many types of doubts” had emerged over the country’s electoral processes.
“I feel this is the greatest misfortune that limits of dignity are crossed to retain the power,” Sonia Gandhi said, also raising questions over the fairness of the electoral process.
“All type of tactics were adopted to woo the voters. Everyone in this country knows whether it was moral and immoral what happened in the elections. I feel this is the greatest misfortune that limits of dignity are crossed to retain the power,” Sonia said at a thanksgiving rally here.
With ANI Inputs ).
