Step-motherly treatment to Raebareli from BJP: Sonia

Raebareli (UP): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of doing nothing in five years except dividing people, and claimed that it had meted out "step-motherly" treatment to her constituency Raebareli. In her maiden election speech for the ongoing UP polls, Gandhi also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, accusing them of mismanagement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It's going to be an important election because for the last five years you have seen a government which did nothing except divide people," Gandhi said during a virtual address on the last day of campaign for the fourth phase. Gandhi is the Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli, where voting will take place on February 23 on all five assembly seats of Raebareli (Sadar), Harchandpur, Bachchrawan, Sareni and Unchahar.

"We had brought several development schemes for you but the Modi-Yogi government banned all of them. Step-motherly treatment was meted out to Raebareli," Gandhi said. "You have seen the politics of Congress which is based on service of people and giving rights to people," she said. She said Congress workers have worked really hard in UP in the last five years and 8,000 party workers were jailed while fighting for the rights of the people in the state.

"Brothers and sisters, I consider myself an inseparable part of your family. We are committed to pursuing a politics which makes your life better. We want to give you an MLA who works day and night for you, and makes policies that empower you," Gandhi said. "In this election, strengthen the 'hand' (party symbol) of the Congress and select the politics which will make your future better. Ensure victory of all our candidates in Raebareli with a huge mandate," she appealed. The Congress is faced with stiff challenge in Raebareli as its both MLAs (Aditi Singh from Raebareli and Sadar Rakesh Singh from Harchandpur) have crossed over to the BJP and are fighting on the lotus symbol. The five assembly seats have a combined voter count of over 17 lakh, including around eight lakh women. The district, adjoining Lucknow, has a population of around 30 lakh.