Una (HP): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Monday said although the BJP is "begging for a repeat" in Himachal Pradesh, voters must be cautious as "the double-engine government" that the saffron party has been peddling for the last five years, "does not have any fuel left, as it was all sold to big industrialists".
Advocating for the need of a change of guard in the state, Priyanka addressing an election rally in favor party nominee, Mukesh Agnihotri at Kangar village, said that if the people committed the mistake of voting the BJP back to power, they will repent it later on.
She said it is only the Congress that has been working for people's interest and will continue as in the past.
Drawing analogy between a marriage and voting a party candidate to power, she said that when we go to see the groom, we first see his intentions.
"In the same way, we have to vote after checking the BJP's intentions. This time, don't cast your vote on the advice of anyone, but vote for yourself by choosing the right one," Priyanka Gandhi said.
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement in Solan, she said that BJP was calling Himachal "ill state" to garner votes again.
"All this is being done to get votes," she said, adding that the only principle that BJP follows is to remain in power at any cost. However, she reminded, "while being in power the BJP forgets the poor and needy and nurture big industrialists".
She said that during the tenure of her grandmother and first woman PM, Indira Gandhi, who created and nursed this state; "she always used to say that the people of Himachal created the state". That is why the state should get leaders like Yashwant Singh Parmar and Virbhadra Singh.
She alleged that the Jai Ram Thakur government did not fill 63,000 posts in five years. "Now these people will say anything to stay in power, so please don’t fall prey to their designs," she added.
Priyanka said that Himachal Pradesh has a huge debt, "besides there was a PPE kit scam during the Covid period, there was a scam in police recruitment and all these were due to the wrong policies of the BJP".
She reminded the voters that Congress has put forward "10 Guaranties" to the people, including "a monthly amount of Rs 1,500 to women so that they can be self reliant.