Campaigning for Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday struck an emotional chord with the electorate, even as she slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for launching a misinformation campaign against her party.
She lauded the people for working in tandem with the ‘Gandhi family’.
While Congress campaign managers are hopeful that Mr. Gandhi would win, it is the victory margin that would matter, considering that Amethi is said to be the Gandhi family’s pocket borough. Mr. Gandhi first won from Amethi in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. In 2009, he polled a record 4,64,195 votes and his victory margin was 3,31,910 votes.
Addressing an election meeting at Nandmahar, Gauriganj, Ms. Sonia Gandhi said she was following the tradition of Indira Gandhi, who had entrusted her son “Rajivji” to the people of Amethi; likewise, she entrusted her son, Rahul, to them in 2004.
On the achievements of the Congress, Ms. Gandhi said the Right to Information Act, brought in by the party, was instrumental in exposing a number of corruption cases and action was taken against those involved in graft. She dared the principal Opposition to reveal what action was taken by the BJP-ruled States against those involved in corruption.
Reacting to the BJP criticism that the Congress was unable to take policy decisions, Ms. Gandhi cited measures such as the Right to Education, the Food Security Act, the Land Acquisition Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. “Did they fall from the sky?” she asked.
Appealing to the people to ensure Mr. Gandhi’s victory, the Congress president lauded the electorate for showering their love and affection on “Rahul and Priyanka.”
In a bid to rebut the Aam Aadmi Party candidate, Kumar Vishwas’ claim that no development had taken place in Amethi, Ms. Gandhi said Rahul had taken up several development initiatives in the region including rail and road connectivity and setting up educational institutes and skill development centres.
