Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she is surprised at Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s low profile ahead of the high-octane Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Priyanka agreed with what people of Uttar Pradesh believe that Mayawati is not campaigning in her usual style and said it has surprised her as well.
I am also surprised seeing… six-seven months back we use to think that her party is not active, maybe they will start close to elections. We were also very surprised that the election has started we are in the middle of the election and it has not become active. As you said, (she) is very quiet, I am not able to understand,” Priyanka Gandhi said in an interview with ANI.
Mayawati earlier declared that she would not be contesting in the state election. But apart from that, she is believed to be missing from the election blitzkrieg. On Saturday, the BSP released a list of 51 candidates for the second phase of the upcoming elections. “Today, I am announcing a list of 51 candidates out of 55 seats for the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections. This time we have given the slogan ‘Har Polling Booth Ko Jeetana hai, BSP Ko Satta Mein Lana Hai’. I hope party workers will work hard and will form the BSP government like of 2007,” said Mayawati.
A day before, Priyanka Gandhi created a stir by hinting that she might be the CM face for the Congress. Offering a clarification on that, Priyanka told ANI that her comment which triggered the speculation was a slightly exaggerated way as she gets asked the same question. “There are so many States and they have in-charges whether it is Congress or BJP. Do you ask them whether they are chief ministerial face or not? Why don’t you ask them? Why is this question being put to me?” she said.
On the question of the alliance, Priyanka said, “I can speak for Uttar Pradesh. We have experimented with alliances in the past in UP. We had an alliance in 2017 with Samajwadi Party. Before that, we had an alliance with BSP. So in Uttar Pradesh, this is the path we have chosen. I cannot speak about other states whether the Congress party would choose this path. I think it will have a dynamic policy about this and it will make a decision according to what those decisions are.”
