UP Election: Yogi Govt Did Nothing But Divide People In Last 5 Years, Says Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi accused the BJP of meting out 'step-motherly' treatment to Raebareli and hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adityanath for mismanagement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi (Getty Images)

New Delhi: In her maiden election speech in Uttar Pradesh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the Yogi Adityanath government did nothing in the last five years except divide people.

In a virtual address on the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, Sonia Gandhi said, "It's going to be an important election because for the last five years you have seen a government which did nothing except divide people."

These polls are important for you as for 5 yrs you saw a govt that did nothing except create differences among you. Farmers grow crops with a lot of hard work. You neither got paid nor received fertilisers, not even irrigation facilities: Sonia Gandhi #UttarPradeshElections2022 pic.twitter.com/3cwaMXQDwI

— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2022

The Congress chief accused the BJP of meting out "step-motherly" treatment to Raebareli and hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adityanath for mismanagement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We had brought several development schemes for you but the Modi-Yogi government banned all of them. Step-motherly treatment was meted out to Raebareli," Gandhi said.

"You have seen the politics of Congress which is based on service of people and giving rights to people," she said.

Sonia Gandhi is the Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli, which goes to polls on February 23.

The Congress chief said 8,000 party workers were jailed while fighting for the rights of the people in the state and asked the people to "select the politics that will make your future better". 

Gandhi said the BJP government reduced the budget for MNREGA during a crisis like the pandemic.

She reminded the voters how people faced difficulties during the peak of the Covid pandemic, unable to get oxygen, medicines and even beds in hospitals. 

"The Modi-Yogi government gave proof of how irresponsible they are. They turned away their faces from your problems and shut their eyes to your woes. Not only this, their behaviour towards you was also not good during the lockdown. The government did not provide you any relief," she said.

She also targeted the Centre and the Adityanath government over the issues of farmers, youth and inflation.

She said in the last five years, farmers neither got an appropriate price for their produce, nor fertilizers or facilities for irrigation.

"Farmers got under burden of debt while stray animals kept ruining their crops," Gandhi said.

The youth study hard and prepare for jobs but the BJP government forced them to sit at home, she said. "There are 12 lakh vacant government jobs in the state but you were not given jobs," the Congress chief noted.

She said petrol, diesel, cooking gas and mustard oil had become unaffordable for people and running a household had become difficult. "Inflation also hit women who somehow managed to save small amounts of money," Gandhi said.

Hitting out at the government over the unemployment situation, Gandhi said the government sold out many companies at low prices to its "friends", resulting in joblessness.

(With PTI inputs)