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Updated: Apr 28, 2019 08:36 IST

On the last day of campaign before the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 29, Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Saturday explained to farmers who had gathered to hear her speak exactly how they had been exploited by the ruling BJP government at the Centre for the last five years.

Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier in the day she also held a roadshow in Unnao.

“Wherever I have met people or held rallies in the last few weeks, people have told me how they have suffered in these five years. Farmers have struggled with pending loans, prices have been steep across sectors and the government has not helped the poor deal with these problems. Instead, they have created more problems in the form of GST and demonetization,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

Referring to the grim job situation in the country she said, “Young men remain unemployed and the present government is doing nothing to create more jobs. This is the reality of the country. They are only bothered about a handful of rich industrialists. They help the elite to prosper but they do not have money to waive loans of poor farmers.”

Taking a dig at PM Narendra Modi, Priyanka said, “There have been a number of interviews of the Prime Minister recently on television. He is either seen in lush gardens or sitting on a raised dais watching the Ganga Aarti in Varanasi’s ghats. Have you ever seen him visiting the house of a poor farmer? The people of the country are constantly being told about the development that has taken place. Only one road of 15 km, from the airport to the city has been built in Varanasi, which is the PM’s own constituency. There has been no other development in the temple town.”

“The BJP has created a disconnect with the people. In five years, the leaders who were here before are nowhere to be seen. They roam around with leaders from different countries but they do not meet the poor people of their own region,” she alleged.

The Congress leader said that despite being poor the farmers were well informed and should cast their vote for the political party whose policies would benefit them in the long run. She also reminded the gathering that the ruling BJP’s intention was not correct otherwise farmers and small traders would not have suffered due to demonetization and the levying of GST.

Holding back-to-back campaigns, the Gandhi siblings-- Rahul and Priyanka-- bumped into each other accidentally at the Kanpur airport earlier in the day on their way to different election meetings in Uttar Pradesh.