Winds of change blowing, undercurrent in INDIA favour in every state: Rahul, Akhilesh at joint show

“We are getting reports from every state that our election (prospects) are improving and there is an undercurrent,” Rahul, flanked by Akhilesh, told media persons after the rally, without specifying the number of seats he believed his party would win.

Targeting the BJP and calling the coming polls “an election of ideology”, Rahul said, “On one side are the RSS and BJP who are trying to finish the Constitution and the democratic set-up. On the other side is INDIA and Congress which are trying to defend and protect the Constitution and democracy.”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav shake hands ahead of a press conference in Ghaziabad (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Saying that “winds of change were blowing in UP and will spread across the country”, Akhilesh claimed the BJP “will be swept off” by the INDIA bloc “from Ghaziabad to Ghazipur”. “PDA (pichhda, Dalit and alpsankhyak) will defeat the NDA,” he said.

Rahul also flagged “unemployment, inflation, and representation” as the major issues in the coming elections. When asked about his earlier statement on eradicating poverty “with one swipe”, he said, “No one is saying that poverty will be finished in one go. We are saying that poverty can be given a big blow.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had criticised Rahul for the poverty remark, calling him a “royal magician”.

Criticising the PM, Rahul said: “The reality today is that 22 individuals have money equal to what 70 crore people have. Another reason for poverty is that Modi has concentrated all the money with 20 to 25 individuals… He has given nothing to the poor in the past 10 years.”

On BJP’s allegation of “parivarwad (dynastic politics)” against Opposition parties, Akhilesh said, “The BJP people should today take a pledge that they will not give a ticket to any family member and will not appeal to any parivarwala for votes.”

He also spoke about electoral bonds and said the now-scrapped scheme had exposed the BJP. “The BJP has become a godown of all the corrupt,” Akhilesh said.

Rahul said electoral bonds were the “world’s biggest scheme of extortion”. All the explanations of the PM on the scheme were not going to make any difference, he added, “Because the entire nation knows that the Prime Minister is a champion of corruption.”

As per the seat-sharing pact in UP, while the Congress is contesting 17 seats, the SP will fight for 62 seats. SP has also given one seat to the TMC.

When asked why the Congress was contesting only 17 seats in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul said, “We want to show some flexibility and contest with an open mind. That is why we have given space to our partners but that is not a weakness [of the Congress].”

On the possibility of a joint manifesto of the INDIA bloc, Akhilesh said the Congress manifesto had several measures to eradicate poverty. “All the INDIA partners are promising a guarantee of MSP (minimum support price). Poverty will start getting eradicated when the Government of India will increase the income of farmers.”

Rahul said the ideas in the Congress’ manifesto were “as per the ideology of the INDIA bloc”.

On a question about the possibility of him contesting from Amethi or Rae Bareli, Rahul termed it a “BJP wala question” and said, “In Congress, these decisions are taken in the CEC (Central Election Committee).” He said he will abide by his party’s decision.

Eight seats of UP are going to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election 2024 on April 19, and the campaign for these seats will conclude on Wednesday.

Rahul and Akhilesh will jointly address a public meeting in Amroha on April 20.