New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday for wasting resources on commercials rather than empowering people.


Gandhi arrived in Raebareli on Saturday for a two-day campaign visit for Congress candidates. Raebareli is Congress President Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary seat, PTI reported.


Priyanka Gandhi will host a series of 'nukkad sabhas' and meetings in all Raebareli assembly seats on February 23, when polls will be held in the fourth phase.


She told a 'nukkad sabha' in the Harchandpur assembly constituency that under the Congress regimes at the Centre, there was an all-round improvement in people's lives, but that small enterprise had now closed down.


On the issue of stray cattle in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi stated that the Congress administration in Chhattisgarh buys cow dung from persons who retain stray animals for Rs 2 per kilogramme.


"The job of the government is to develop you and we are seeing that the government in Uttar Pradesh is not doing what it should do. It is the government's job to make you stand on your feet, but big advertisements are being seen everywhere Modiji's and Yogiji's advertisements worth thousands of crores of rupees. If the same money would have been invested to empower you, think about how much progress could have been made," she was quoted by PTI in its report.


Addressing the media in the Johwa Sharki area, the Congress leader said, "Raebareli has been completely rejected under the BJP government. All the projects that were started by us have been closed down."


"Inflation and farmers' problems have increased manifold. Ask anyone here, shopkeepers, farmers or any youth, if their lives have improved in the past five years, and I can bet no one here will say it has," she said


 "There were no facilities for coronavirus patients. My mother (Sonia Gandhi) had asked to send medical oxygen to Rae Bareli from somewhere and we talked to the Chhattisgarh government and they were sending oxygen, but the government here refused," Priyanka Gandhi said while referring to the covid-19 pandemic.


"They did not want oxygen to come to you via the Congress government; this is not the business of a government; this is politics," she declared, urging voters to support the Congress candidate.


In the 2017 assembly elections, Congress candidates Rakesh Singh and Aditi Singh won the Harchandpur and Raebareli seats, respectively, although both have subsequently joined the BJP.


Gandhi also singled out Harchandpur MLA Rakesh Singh, accusing him of land stealing.


(With PTI Inputs)