From Asha worker to rape victim's mother: Congress bets on women power in Uttar Pradesh

Unnao rape victim's mother Asha Singh, anti-CAA activist Sadaf Zafar, Tribal leader Ramraj Gond and Asha worker Poonam Pandey figured in Congress's first list of 125 candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh which was released on Thursday by party general secretary and state in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

As promised by Priyanka, the list contained 50 women, which forms 40 per cent of the total candidates figuring in the first list of the party for the state.

Addressing a virtual press conference Priyanka said that her party had given preference to those who had raised their voice against injustice and fought for restoration of the rights of the weaker sections. ''Our candidates are the voice social justice, energetic, who will power Uttar Pradesh on the path of progress,'' she added.

She said that Asha Singh, who was the mother of Unnao rape victim, showed the courage to take on the then MLA of the ruling party, who was accused of rape. Poonam Pandey, an 'Asha' worker, was manhandled when she demanded her dues at a public meeting of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Shahjahanpur.

Sadaf Zafar, who has been fielded from Lucknow Central seat, had been at the forefront of the anti-CAA protests and was persecuted by the administration while Ramraj Gond had taken up cudgels against the upper caste musclemen after the massacre of tribals in Sonebhadra district in the state.

The other prominent names in the list included Aradhana Mishra, Pankhri Pathak, former union minister Salman Khurshid's wife Louis Khurshid and TV journalist Nida Ahmed, who will be contesting from Sambhal.

''We want to usher in a new kind of politics in Uttar Pradesh... Our campaign will be positive and we will be focusing on the real issues facing the common people,'' Priyanka said.

On the defection of some party leaders, she said that every election witnesses defections. ''There is nothing to worry about it,'' she added.

Priyanka has been trying to reach out to the women through outreach events and promises of sops, hoping that her party will get their support in the forthcoming polls.

Congress had organised 'women's marathons' in different parts of the state which drew large crowds of girls and women. Priyanka has promised 40 per cent reservation for the women in government jobs if her party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, deployment of a woman constable at every police station in the state besides setting up a 'Mahila Chaupal' in every village.

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