Hours after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi announced of giving 40% tickets to women ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2022, party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from West Bengal hailed the decision and called it revolutionary.
Adhir Chowdhury further said, "Our president Sonia Gandhi has always emphasized on such issues" and added had UPA formed government, 33% reservation for women in Parliament would have also been implemented.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today earlier in the day said that it would empower women and make them able to fight for their rights in effective manner.
The congress general secretary made this announcement at a press conference in Lucknow and said that it would do justice to the women in UP who had fallen victim to atrocities. . She also released a slogan for her women empowerment campaign `Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon (I am a women and I can fight). Priyanka said that her wish was to raise this limit to 50 per cent but to begin with, it has been kept at 40 per cent. According to her, this decision was taken after meeting with many women victims of state atrocities in UP who want justice in this system.
She said that 161 tickets of 403 assembly segments in UP would be reserved for women only in congress party. When asked about making any woman as CM face in the coming UP elections, Priyanka said that nothing has been decided till date. She however said that very soon a decision in this regard would be taken. Whether the congress general secretary would be the CM candidate for congress party or not, Priyanka refused to give a clear answer and instead said that it is too early to say anything.
When asked about congress following the same suit in other states like Punjab and Uttrakhand, Priyanka said that she has implemented this in UP and it is up to leaders of other states to follow it or not. However, she said that in the 2024 parliament elections too, UP congress would provide 40 per cent tickets to women candidates.
However, the decision did not go down well with its opponents BJP and BSP both terming the move a "pure election drama".
