New Delhi: Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said that the move to field CM Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban seat indicates that the saffron party is trying to "cut him to size" as in an "autocratic system like theirs, there can only be one supreme leader".
Earlier this month, BJP had fielded Adityanath from his pocket borough of Gorakhpur for Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, as the five-time Lok Sabha MP makes his debut in state poll fray for the first time from his home turf.
"Looks to me like his leadership is attempting to cut him to size. It's an open secret that they have been wanting to do so for sometime," the Congress general secretary said while speaking to news agency PTI.
Furthermore, Priyanka Gandhi also attacked the Adityanath government for the handling of the Covid pandemic, especially of the second wave, alleging that it failed to protect people of the state and provide them with health facilities.
"Even worse was the fact that while failing to do all of this it acted as an aggressor towards the public and those providing health services. Whether it was the 'asha bahus' who risked their lives to help others or doctors, nurses and health care professionals; instead of incentivising and supporting them the government created an atmosphere of fear," she alleged.
When asked about the reason behind Congress giving ticket to Unnao rape victim's mother, Priyanka Gandhi said, "we are enabling her to take that very same power, become an MLA, and use her power to rebuild her life and help others".
"The same goes for others like her who have genuinely struggled for the rights of their community, whether it is Poonam Pandey, the 'asha bahu' who was thrashed by the Yogi government just for demanding to be heard, or Ramraj Gond who led the struggle of the people of Umbha after the heinous massacre that took place with the collusion of the government and police in their village," she said.
(With iputs from PTI.)