CONGRESS leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday intensified her campaign for the Wayanad bypoll by accusing the BJP-led Central Government of neglecting the rehabilitation of the landslide-hit areas of the hill district by not providing any funds for the same. Priyanka said the stand taken by the PM Modi Government at the Centre indicates its lack of respect for the people and the same was evident from its policies made during the last 10 years. She added that the Central Government had shown no compassion for farmers, did not address challenges faced by tribal communities and was allocating land to large corporates rather than addressing public needs. She also alleged that employment, education, healthcare, and other essential areas have been neglected by the Modi Government.

 

The Congress leader, speaking at a corner meeting at Eengapuzha here, said that policies, including demonetisation, of the Modi Government always favour five to six business friends of the Prime Minister and do not benefit the people. Referring to the Wayanad landslides, she said that the PM came to the district, visited the affected places and people and promised them all kinds of help. However, months later, the Central Government did not provide any funds for the rehabilitation of the affected people, she claimed. She further claimed that the Central Government had shown no compassion for farmers, taken no steps to address challenges faced by tribal communities across the nation and was allocating land to large corporates rather than addressing public needs. She also alleged that employment, education, healthcare, and other essential areas have been neglected by the Modi Government. “The Modi Government has displayed complete disrespect for the people of India. If you lose respect for the people, you lose respect for the country.

 

The politics prevalent in the country today, where only power matters and the people do not matter, needs to be changed,” Priyanka said. She also referred to the almost year-long violence in Manipur and said that trying to stay in power by any means was “wrong politics”. More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic strife between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kukis in Manipur since May last year. To the hundreds gathered here for the corner meeting, Priyanka said she and her family were “indebted” to the people of Wayanad for supporting and voting for her brother at a time when a massive campaign was launched to tarnish his image. She further said that the bond of love, trust, and loyalty forged between the people of Wayanad and Rahul Gandhi holds a special place in his heart and therefore, he was very sad when he had to give up the constituency.

 

Priyanka said that even though the Congress is not in power at the Centre or in Kerala, she will raise the problems of the people of Wayanad in Parliament. “I will not let you down,” she said. Later in a post on the social media platform ‘X’, she said that Wayanad always stood for the shared values of social harmony, secularism, and justice which the Constitution “holds dear”. “Addressed the wonderful people of Eengapuzha, Thiruvambady today. Wayanad has always stood for our shared values – social harmony, secularism, and justice – values our Constitution holds dear. I promise to uphold these ideals and to dedicate myself fully to Wayanad’s progress and wellbeing,” she said on ‘X’. Priyanka, who marks her electoral debut in this bypoll, is contesting against the LDF’s veteran leader Sathyan Mokeri, a former MLA, and the BJP’s Navya Haridas, a two-time councillor of the Kozhikode Corporation. The by-election was necessitated after Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat following his victory in the Rai Bareli constituency in the recent parliamentary elections. The by-election will be held on November 13. 

 

 

IN RESPONSE to allegations levelled by her political opponents that she would rarely visit the constituency if elected, Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi light-heartedly remarked on Monday that the people in the hill district might become fed up and request that she not visit so frequently. In her speech at the corner meeting in Panamaram, the AICC General Secretary shared her experience as a mother. noting how she frequently visited the school where her son was studying. “I want to tell you a story. When I was leaving my son in boarding school, the Principal said to me, you know these families, the big families come and leave children here, they never come to see the children. So I want to tell you one thing, come at least once in four months and see them. “When four months were over, when I went to pick up my son the Principal told me please don’t come so much. Just like the Principal, you are thinking I would never come. Just like the Principal, you are going to tell after being fed up, please don’t come this much,” she said. Priyanka further said, just like her son the people of Wayanad are also her family. In reply to the queries by journalists regarding the expectations on her margin of votes, she said, “For me every vote you cast is a sense of symbol of what you expect from me not what I expect from you.”