Rahul gandhi will be back in madhya pradesh on november 9 exactly a month after he was last here for his election campaign. He has not been so far to poll-bound rajasthan and was in kedarnath lately on a spiritual tour. In indore on Monday, it was his sister priyanka gandhi Vadra who did a solo rally without former chief minister Kamal Nath, and is on a whirlwind campaign.
She was late by almost an hour but a sea of women supporters patiently attended the rally, and though they could hardly see her on stage as men inexplicably crowded the front rows, they gush over Priyanka’s appeal and say her words inspire confidence. priyanka invokes ‘Mahakal’ and starts her speech by thanking women for waiting for her. From the stage, Vadra strongly pitches for her party’s ‘guarantees’ for women, chiefly being Rs 1,500 per month aid for women, a new scheme totalling a pay-out of Rs 3.5 lakh for a girl child right from birth till marriage, cheaper domestic electricity, an LPG cylinder at Rs 500 and a monthly dole of Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 for school children.
“Priyanka is an example of women empowerment and is an active leader…she speaks at the ground level. She motivates us. She is a good icon for us,” says a young women voter present at the rally. “BJP leaders now say they will give a cylinder for Rs 450. Why did they wake up to this only in the last two months of the election? Has anyone even got their Rs 450 ka cylinder?” Vadra says as women shout in agreement. Some women voters say they prefer Priyanka’s campaign and call her didi. “When rahul gandhi was here, he too met us women voters, so we like the brother-sister duo,” the women supporters add.
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