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In Cong’ UP poll pitch, slew of promises for women including govt jobs
Priyanka Gandhi announced that women would get 3 free cooking gas cylinders annually and won’t need to buy tickets in state government buses
Weeks after announcing 40% party tickets for women in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra promised a bonanza of benefits for women, including two in every five government jobs for women in the state, if the party comes to power.
Gandhi also announced that women would get 3 cooking gas cylinders annually for free and they won’t need to buy tickets in state government buses. She also promised scooters and smartphones for girl students—a leap from the usual poll promises of bicycles.
Party insiders claimed that all these measures are aimed to create a class-based vote bank for the Congress that had rapidly lost its erstwhile vote-base in the post-Mandal politics to SP, BSP and the BJP in UP and Bihar.
“Priyanka has established her as the face of the Congress in UP and many women look up to her as their favourite leader. She is also looking at the broader picture and trying to reach out to a broader section of the UP society,” said a senior strategist.
A person familiar with the matter in the party also revealed that the women-centric announcements were a result of a strategy in which both Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi were involved.
The most populous state will go for assembly polls in March next year.
Among the other measures, Priyanka announced monthly ₹10,000 for all Asha and Anganwadi workers. The two are woman-led critical workforce for health and social welfare in the hinterlands of India.
Gandhi also announced A widow pension of ₹1,000 per month and 75 vocational schools across the state.
The poll promises also signal a new style of campaign and tactics to preempt the manifesto of other parties. Usually, Congress reaches out to many sections of the society for feedback and then stitches its manifesto trying to cater to a broader aspiration. But now, for UP at least, the poll manifesto is seeing a staggered release and the process has started when the election is still at least three months away.
It still might be a tough challenge for Congress to win Uttar Pradesh. In the last UP assembly polls, the Congress bagged just 6.25% of popular votes and seven seats in UP. In the national election, the party got just one seat but maintained its vote share at 6.36%. The then Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost his family borough Amethi (he got elected in Wayanad) to Union minister Smriti Irani. Only Sonia Gandhi won from Raebareli.
