Priyanka Chaturvedi, who sent her resignation to Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday evening , on Friday joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of its chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Ms Chaturvedi claimed that it was a battle of self-pride for her and alleged that safety, dignity and empowerment of women promoted by the Congress was not reflected in actions of some of its members. Being a Mumbaikar, she was always connected with the Sena, she said.
“In my 10 years in politics, I raised the issue of women safety and empowerment strongly, for which I suffered social media trolling and abuse. I was pained over the fact that some party members who made certain remarks about me were reinstated. It was forgotten that a woman like me dedicated 10 years without any greed or expecting returns. It was a battle of self-pride for me and did not want to let down all those women for whom I spoke,” Ms Chaturvedi said at a press conference she held along with Mr. Thackeray at the latter’s residence, Matoshree, in suburban Mumbai.
I welcome her into Shiv Sena family: Uddhav Thackeray
Mr Thackeray said he welcomed Ms Chaturvedi into the Shiv Sena family and the party would give her an important responsibility as per her calibre and capability to work not only in Mumbai, but across the country.
Ms Chaturvedi, who hails from Mumbai, was seeking a ticket from the Congress to contest the present general election either from Mumbai Nort-West or from Mumbai North. She was denied a ticket and she had conveyed her displeasure over this. “Yes, I was hopeful of a ticket as I wanted to raise my ability to convey issues. It is not true that I was upset over denial of ticket. It never led to any bitterness in my mind over this issue,” she said.
The former Congress spokesperson was rumoured to be interested in contesting from Mathura. When asked whether she has sought ticket from Mathura as well, she denied that she wanted to contest from the city in Uttar Pradesh. She claimed that she had spoken about her grievances to the Congress’s central leadership, but did not answer to a query on whether the party leadership tried to make attempts to stop her from quitting the organisation.
When asked why she chose to join the Sena which is ideologically opposite to the Congress, Ms Chaturvedi said there was no need for her to go under any change of mind as being a citizen of Mumbai, she was always connected to the Sena. “When I decided to come back and work where my roots are, the only name came to my mind was of the Shiv Sena. I want to work for women, youth and children. No other platform is as big as this,” she said.
