A large number of women turned up to take part in the 'women marathon' organised in the state capital on Tuesday by the Congress as part of its 'ladki hoon lad sakti hoon' (I am a girl and I can fight) campaign in the state ahead of the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
The marathon was scheduled to take place on Sunday but it was rescheduled for Tuesday after the district administration denied permission to hold the same citing prohibitory orders in the district.
Buoyed by the impressive turnout, UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu said that the women of the state had made up their minds to show the exit door to the BJP. ''This crowd (women) is proof that the BJP is certain to lose the next poll,'' he said.
He also said that chief minister Yogi Adityanath was 'scared' of the ''women power'' and had therefore had denied permission to the Congress to hold the marathon on Sunday. ''The CM is scared.....the women of the state have rallied behind Priyanka Gandhi,'' Lallu said.
The Congress leaders claimed that the party sponsored women's marathons at Jhansi and Agra and other places in the state were a 'huge success''. ''We are getting very good responses from the women....it is a sign that the women have realised their power,'' said another state Congress leader here while speaking to DH.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also the state party in-charge, has pinned her hopes on the women for reviving the electoral fortunes of her party in the state.
She had earlier made a slew of promises to the women, including 40 per cent reservation for them in government jobs, setting up 'Mahila Chaupal' in every village of the state, 40 per cent tickets to them in the forthcoming assembly polls, increasing the wages of the Anganwadi and Asha workers and three free gas cylinders among others, if her party forms the next government in the state.
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