Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Congress received a severe setback on Thursday when poster girl of the party's much-touted "ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon" campaign, Priyanka Maurya joined the BJP.
Along with Priyanka Maurya, Samajwadi Party leader, former MLA Pramod Gupta, who is also the brother-in-law of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav also joined the BJP.
On Wednesday, Aparna Yadav, the youngest daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav had joined the BJP in New Delhi.
Cong poster girl charges Priyanka Gandhi's associate with demanding bribes for tickets
A day before joining BJP, Priyanka Maurya has charged Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi's associate Sandip Singh with demanding bribes for giving a ticket from the Sarojini Nagar assembly constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
"Congress used me for their own benefit, they had already decided to give the ticket to someone else who would pay a bribe to them" Priyanka Maurya alleged.
30 साल कांग्रेस को देने के बाद भी ये होता है। कुछ दिन बाद सिर्फ दलाल ही बचेंगे कांग्रेस में। #shameful#लड़की_हूँ_लड़_सकती_हूँ #LadkiHuLadSaktiHu pic.twitter.com/7PpwMyAAuV
— Dr. Priyanka Maurya (@dpriyankamaurya) January 17, 2022
She said that the slogan "ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon" remained only a slogan and did not come to reality as a girl was denied a chance to fight the elections.
Miffed over, what she alleged, the duplicity of Congress leadership, Priyanka Maurya questioned why the party went through the drama of screening other candidates if it was pre-decided to give mandates only influential candidates.
Cong's "Shakti Vidhan" also depicts Priyanka Maurya's picture
Not only Priyanka Maurya is the poster girl of Congress's "ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon" campaign, party's manifesto "Shakti Vidhan" also depicts her picture.
"Party's manifesto 'Shakti Vidhan' which depicts my picture on the front is where the party used me to attract the votes of women, OBCs," Maurya said.
Congress used me to attract voters from castes like Maurya, Kushwaha, Shakya, and Saini. "When it came to giving to me what was rightful, they sidelined me. I condemn those who just use faces like me just to attract the votes of the OBCs", she said.
On December 20, 2021, Congress had released a six-point UP poll manifesto for women
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while releasing a manifesto for women ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, has promised that 40 percent of the 20 lakh new jobs her party aims to create in the state will be allotted to women.
The folk singer also joins BJP
Along with Priyanka Maurya, a folk singer from Ayodhaya Vandana Mishra and BSP's candidate from Govind Nagar seat of Kanpur, Sunil Shukla also joined BJP. After the announcement of his mandate from Govinder Nagar's seat, the BSP candidate joined BJP.
