Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra greets the students of Nilgiri College of Arts and Science, in Thaloor, Kerala.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Monday launched her second round of by-poll campaign at Wayanad by attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government at the centre.
The AICC general secretary criticised the centre for not allowing due compensations to the calamities hit people of Wayanad as well as Himachal Pradesh. She also said that minority communities were coming under attack under the BJP rule.
"What is the point of Modi coming and meeting the people after the disaster if he cannot allow due compensations to them. Even as many lives were lost in natural calamities in Himachal Pradesh the centre did not declare it as national calamity owing to political reasons. The same thing is now happening in Wayanad. It is the right of the people struck by natural disasters to get due compensation from the government," she said in her corner meeting at Panamaram in Wayanad.
Earlier speaking at Meenangadi in Wayanad, Priyanka said that the BJP government was making policies that favour a few friends of Modi while issues of farmers and tribal people were not being addressed.
"You have seen the attacks in Manipur. The BJP government at the centre is spreading fear and anger among the minority communities," she said.
She accused the government of not showing compassion towards farmers and taking away the land of tribal people. "There is no compassion towards the farmers who are toiling day and night to feed the nation. There is no understanding of tribal people, their lands are taken away for rich people," Priyanka said.
Priyanka said that she would work to address the issues of the people of Wayanad like the night traffic ban along Bandipur, man-animal conflict and poor medical infrastructure of Wayanad. She also highlighted her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's emotional bonding with Wayanad.
Countering the widespread criticism of her opponents that she would hardly visit the constituency after the election, Priyanka said that she would be too frequently visiting the constituency, like she used to visit her son at his boarding school, and make the people request her not to visit too often.
Priyanka said that she was not concerned of the number of votes she would secure as she would consider each vote as a sense of responsibility and a symbol of what the people expected from her.
People in large numbers thronged on the streets to greet the Nehru-Gandhi scion. Priyanka also made an unscheduled visit to WMO Arts and Science College in Wayanad and interacted with the teachers and students.
In her two day campaign, Priyanka is addressing corner meetings in all the seven assembly segments of Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, which includes parts of Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.
Meanwhile, Priyanka's nomination was formally accepted after scrutiny by the district electoral officer on Monday.