Priyanka Gandhi hits back. The two main parties – the Congress and the BJP – are at war.
For the second consecutive day, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday targeted the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Speaking at an election meeting in her mother Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency, she directly attacked Modi by telling the crowd “he was listening to conversations of women”.
Referring to the Gujarat snoopgate scandal where opposition parties allege that Modi ordered tracking of the movements of a woman and spying on her, Priyanka said the man who was calling for protection of women was himself spying on a woman.
Seeking votes for her mother and Congress president Sonia, she urged the people not to be swayed by false propaganda unleashed by the opposition and said voters should keep their welfare and the progress of nation in mind while voting.
“A lot is being said in the poll season and you must be watching on television the type of ‘tu-tu-main-main’ (verbal spat) going on between political leaders,” she told a gathering in Rae Bareli.
At times, television news can be disgusting, Priyanka said while pointing out that she often asked her children not to watch television. Realizing that a large number of television crews were present at the meeting, she immediately apologized for the taunt but added that somehow this was the reality.
Priyanka also listed many issues like infrastructure development, creation of jobs and women’s empowerment as key issues people should care for. Ask the politicians how they will protect your interests, she told a group of women.
Priyanka is doubling as the campaign manager of her mother Sonia and brother Rahul for their respective constituencies of Rae Bareli and Amethi. Rae Bareli votes on April 30 while polling in Amethi will be held on May 7.
She also said, “Politics is about dealing with the problems of the people and “not just making personal attacks.”
“Politics is all about the development and problems of the people. Parties should focus on bringing out the solutions for the problems of the people and not just making personal attacks,” Priyanka said.
She said that political candidates just focus on making personal attacks without talking about the solutions of the problems people face. Priyanka Gandhi had on Tuesday said that political leaders were making personal attacks and maligning her husband Robert Vadra and the entire Gandhi family.
She urged the voters to vote for Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “…Today there are proper roads, water facilities, educational institutions, which has only been possible because of the efforts of Sonia Gandhi,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Congress is worried that it might be losing the battle of perception over party chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, who is accused of dubious land deals by the BJP.
A senior leader of the Congress party, wishing he not be identified, admitted that the Vadra issue adds to the “scam-tainted” image of the party. Asked if the Vadra land deals would affect the party’s electoral prospects, he said: “Maybe… Already, due to 2G and other such issues, the party has acquired a negative perception as far as corruption is concerned.”
The party has faced a barrage of criticism over alleged scams in the distribution of telecom spectrum and the allocation of coal blocks for mining, among others, during its term in power.
The leader claimed that there was no specific illegality in any of the land deals conducted by Vadra. “However, I can’t answer if you ask me how he became so rich in such a short time,” he added.
The leader opined that Vadra’s political links should not be seen as having influenced the decision to grant change in land use to realty major DLF for the construction of apartments near Rashtrapati Bhavan. “DLF has been obtaining change in land use for its projects since the inception of the company. It has got the same in half of Haryana,” he said.
Officially, the party has strongly backed Priyanka’s defence. Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday said the party was “one hundred and ten percent with Priyanka”.
“Mr. Vadra is being targeted by the cheap tactics and dirty tricks department of the opposition and being unnecessarily dragged into the electoral debate,” he contended.
But BJP leader Arun Jaitley took a swipe at Priyanka on Wednesday when said he agreed with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra that personal attacks cause pain to people and should be avoided, but noted that “charity begins at home” and that the Congress should not have made similar attacks on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Referring to Priyanka’s remarks at a rally in Rae Bareli on Tuesday, Jaitley in an article on the Bharatiya Janata Party website said she was right that personal attacks should be avoided.
Jaitley said Robert Vadra was in a controversy over the nature of his investments and, prima facie, it was a case of “investments without original capital and an unprecedented return”.
“Priyanka Vadra claims not to be in politics. She helps her mother and brother in their constituencies which she is entitled to. Yesterday, she commented that she was pained at the personal attacks on her husband Robert Vadra who has been in controversy over the nature of his investments. There is obviously something much more than meets the eye,” Jaitley said.
He said “Mrs. Vadra is right” that personal attacks pain people and should be avoided. “I wish her political friends should also realise this. If they had realised it, her brother would not have made Narendra Modi’s so-called child marriage into a public issue,” Jaitley said.
Priyanka’s brother and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had accused Modi of hiding his marital status after he named his wife in his nomination papers filed in Vadodara. The Congress has also moved the Election Commission against Modi on the issue.
Jaitley said the Congress should also not have attacked Modi on the alleged snooping of a young woman in Gujarat and over the 2002 riots. “The Congress would not have made security to a lady in Ahmedabad into a ‘snoopgate’ issue. In a case where courts have found that there is not even enough case to register an FIR against Modi, the Congress should not have carried on campaign for 12 long years based on falsehood and fabrications.”
“Certainly, if the mother (Sonia Gandhi) had listened to her daughter, she would not have called Modi ‘maut ka saudagar’ (merchant of death)”, Jaitley said. “I completely agree with Mrs. Vadra that personal attacks pain people and should be avoided. But good advice, like charity, always begins at home,” Jaitley added. (IANS)