Priyanka Gandhi sounds poll bugle in MP with five 'tested' promises

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Monday kick-started the party's poll campaign for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls with five promises on the line of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, where it won recently.

Priyanka's rally in Jabalpur also indicated that the Congress will corner the ruling BJP by highlighting scams, especially alleged corruption in the Mahakal Lok corridor project.

Like in 2018, the then Congress President Rahul Gandhi had promised to wave off farmers loans, and the party under the leadership of Kamal Nath had managed to return to power after a 15 years gap.

Priyanka sounded the poll bugles by offering a financial scheme of Rs 1500 per month, LPG cylinder at a subsidised rate of Rs 500 along with cheaper electricity.

The Congress promised to provide Rs 1500 to women (with certain conditions) under its proposed scheme 'Nari Samman Yojana' to counter the BJP's 'Ladli Behna Yojana' launched by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently. Similarly, subsidised cooking gas will counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship 'Ujjawala Yojana' launched in May 2016.

Besides these, the Congress also made another major announcement for implementing the old pension scheme (OPS) to gain the support of state government employees and their families in the coming elections. The cheaper electricity is akin to what the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced in its debut election in 2013.

"The Congress government in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has restored the OPS. Our government in Karnataka has cleared the five guarantees (the poll promises made by the party there)," Priyanka said while addressing a mammoth poll gathering in Jabalpur on Monday.

Notably, the Congress made similar five-point promises in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka and managed to uproot the BJP from both states to form the government with absolute majority.

In her speech, Priyanka hit out at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government highlighting issues like atrocities against women and tribals, unemployment, and scams that broke out in the past 18 years in Madhya Pradesh. Referring to the collapse of Saptarishi idols in Ujjain's Mahakal Lok corridor, Priyanka said, "Shivraj government did not spare even God."

Meanwhile, mocking the BJP's 'double-engine government' poll talk, the General Secretary said, "We have seen a lot of double and triple-engine governments, but people of Himachal and Karnataka have given a befitting reply in the polls."