Rahul, Priyanka hold roadshows on the last day of campaign

One for the road: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra interacting with voters during her campaign on Monday.
| Photo Credit: PTI

On an aggressive comeback bid in the capital, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held roadshows in Kasturba Nagar and Kalkaji constituencies on the final day of the Delhi Assembly poll campaign. Ms. Gandhi campaigned for Abhishek Dutt, a face the Congress is banking, Mr. Gandhi campaigned for Alka Lamba, who is pitted against Chief Minister Atishi and ex-MP Ramesh Bidhuri of the BJP.

In the Kasturba Nagar constituency, Mr. Dutt is locking horns with Ramesh Pehalwan of AAP and Neeraj Basoya of BJP. Waving to the crowd from atop vehicles, the two leaders sought support for their candidates. While they did not render a speech, the party has been running its campaign promising guarantees that included LPG cylinder for ₹500 for every family with a free ration kit and 300 units of free power per family, ₹25 lakh health insurance cover for every resident under its proposed ‘Jeevan Raksha Yojana’, ₹2,500 per month to women under the ‘Pyari Didi Yojana’ and one-year apprenticeship for unemployed youth at ₹ 8,500 a month, if voted to power.

Delhi congress chief Devender Yadav said the voters of Delhi are fighting the elections for the Congress party as they want change to rediscover the golden days of the Congress government when the party turned Delhi into a world-class city. “Voters are determined to throw out Arvind Kejriwal and the BJP, as they have only deceived the public with empty rhetoric over the past 11 years,” Mr. Yadav said at a press conference.

He added that the intense electioneering by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr. Gandhi and Ms. Vadra have energised the Congress workers and the public, and kindled their hopes.

Mr. Yadav was joined by Sandeep Dikshit, Haroon Yusuf and other candidates, who took a pledge that when the Congress forms a government in Delhi, it would ensure clean drinking water, a garbage-free Delhi, end to traffic jams, clean the Yamuna, and ensure protection of the rights of the poor, Dalits, Advasis, minorities, backwards and Purvanchalis, apart from delivering on their guarantees.

’Non-existent models’

Mr. Dikshit said that Mr. Kejriwal’s model of education and health were non-existent, but he certainly gave a very big leg-up to corruption as the classrooms constructed by the Congress for ₹ 7 lakh soared to ₹ 24. “Mr. Kejriwal could not reply to the many questions on education and health raised by the Congress as it would have thoroughly exposed his false claims,” Mr. Dikshit said.

Congress leader and ex-MP Udit Raj appealed to the Dalits, backward and marginalised sections to snub the anti-Dalit, anti-poor and anti-Ambedkar Kejriwal, who had merely used the poor as his vote bank, but did nothing for their upliftment.