Congress rolls out Priyanka in Karnataka; draws Himachal Pradesh parallel
Photo credit Twitter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, April 25: Congress has rolled out party’s national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a regular companion of her brother and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, in the Karnataka Assembly elections. While her brother does rallies, she held a roadshow and held a public meeting in Mysore. Congress is also seen playing out the Himachal Pradesh template in Karnataka to ride the electoral trend of the incumbent government voted out.
Vadra held a meeting women-only meeting in Hanur, Karnataka. She was seen in similar action in Himachal Pradesh as well. Congress appears to have slotted her to work to mobilise the women voters in Karnataka, as had been seen in Himachal Pradesh.
“I had several meetings with women in Uttar Pradesh when I was the in-charge of the party in the state. We dwelt on several ideas. Before I speak of what the Bharatiya Janata Party government did not do, I wish to speak on something else, as I am also a woman and have children,” Vadra said.
She afterwards spoke of education, health and employment. Separately, Vadra talked of price rise while speaking to reporters. “I feel pain when I see our youth not finding jobs; why should the people have faith in politicians,” said Vadra.
Congress general secretary and communication department head Jairam Ramesh in tweets spoke of party’s commitments to women, which have been fulfilled in the party-ruled Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. “Our commitment for women of Karnataka includes promises of – Gruha Lakshmi—Rs 2,000 per month to women; Gruha Jyoti – 200 units per month free electricity; Yuva Nidhi – Rs 3000 per month for unemployed graduates,” tweeted Ramesh.
He said that 2.5 lakh women in Himachal Pradesh have so far been covered for Rs 1500 per month for women scheme. Vadra’s helming of the women-oriented poll promises is seen as an attempt of Congress to carve out women constituency in the states. This has been done in the past with remarkable success by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who counts on women voters in each election.
While Vadra was the sole campaigner from the Gandhi family in Himachal Pradesh, Congress is rolling out aggressive plan for the brother and sister to canvass for the party, drawing comfort from the historical electoral trend of Karnataka not repeating an incumbent government since 1983.
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