Image Credit: twitter.com/priyankagandhi, twitter.com/AjayLalluINC
The UP Congress will be fighting the upcoming assembly elections under the supervision of Priyanka Gandhi and will stage a comeback, state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said in an interview with PTI. He said that the Congress party was capable enough to fight the election on its own. The remarks assume significance as they come after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati made it clear that they would not be making an alliance with any major party.
The Congress chief asserted that the party was the main challenger to the current Yogi Adityanath government and had been a more effective opposition party than the SP despite having a lower strength in the UP assembly.
Talking of Priyanka Gandhi, Ajay Kumar said that she had strengthened the party structure by making appointments at all levels- Zila committees, block presidents, Nyaya panchayats, and gram sabha units. On being asked about the possibility of Priyanka being the party’s CM candidate, he told that the decision would be taken by the party high command. Priyanka Gandhi, who is the party’s in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, is expected to visit the poll-bound state later this month to set the stage for the electoral battle.
When asked who will the Congress form an alliance with, the party chief told PTI that Congress would be in alliance with the issues of the people, farmers, poor, women, and the oppressed. He added that winds of change were blowing in the state. He denied the possibility of anti-BJP votes getting divided between SP, BSP, and Congress, adding that the people were with Congress as they were frustrated with all other parties in the state.
Ajay Kumar said that the party had stood for different sections of the society like farmers, youth, and rural poor, and raised important issues like unemployment, law, and order, Covid pandemic, spurious liquor, and many other problems. Priyanka Gandhi herself raised her voice during tribal killings in Sonbhadra and when injustice was done to the daughters of Hathras, Unnao, and Shahjahanpur, he added.
On the farm bills, the Congress chief expressed his opposition to the laws and assumed confidence that the farmers would vote for the Congress party.