Priyanka raises poll pitch in Sonia's Rae Bareli; says people insulting family for political gains

NEW DELHI: Campaigning in Rae Bareli for her mother Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at the Opposition saying, "People are insulting my family for political gains. The more they insult my family, the stronger we emerge."

"Attempt is being made to malign my husband. Target me as much as you want, I will strike back," Priyanka said. Raising the poll pitch in Sonia Gandhi's bastion, Priyanka said, "You have given a lot to my family, so I won't ask you for your votes."

"When you watch TV, what do you see? Harsh words, ridiculing of my family. A lot of things are said about my husband. I feel pained. I feel pained, not for myself, not because somebody is ridiculing and the truth is not being told, not because everyday I tell my children that the truth will prevail. I feel pained at the kind of politics that has come to the fore in these elections," she told a gathering.

"I am pained that while this election should have been contested on development, needs of the people, employment for youth....instead, an attempt is being made to mislead you towards meaningless talk," she said.

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Invoking Indira Gandhi, Priyanka said she had learnt from her grand mother how to fight back as "truth is like a shield".

Deploring the politics of divisiveness, Priyanka said India was known for its tolerance since it is the land of Buddha and Mahatama Gandhi.

The country has accepted her mother Sonia, who was not born here, but now attempts are being made to inject "poison", she said.

"Do you want a country of the Buddha, of Mahatama Gandhi where hindus, muslims, sikhs and christians live together or a country where you fight one another and one community is taken forward while another is left behind and division is created in terms of caste and religion," she asked those present at the public meeting, apparently attacking BJP and its leader Narendra Modi.

"Don't vote for Sonia, vote for your future, a better future for your children," Priyanka said. "Vote for a future where people live in harmony with each other," she added.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi's yet another victory seems a foregone conclusion in the constituency that two members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, have represented before her, besides relatives such as Arun Nehru and family friends such as Captain Satish Sharma.

It seems the voters of Rae Bareli - who upset all calculations and made Indira Gandhi bite the dust once, in 1977 - just cannot have enough of the first family of Congress. This is so even as Rae Bareli appears as much a victim of governmental neglect as any other place in the state, with potholed roads running across the town except towards Sonia Gandhi's guest house in Bhueymau.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra keeps reminding the people on her visits to the constituency, that the rail coach factory, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, FM radio station and highway projects were all brought to Rae Bareli only because of her mother Sonia.

(With inputs from ET Bureau and PTI)