Congress follows Gandhi who said 'Hey Ram' before dying, not anti-religion: Priyanka Gandhi
Rae Bareli, May 16: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said her party follows the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi who uttered "Hey Ram" before dying and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was wrong in accusing it of being anti-religion.
"They accuse us of being against the Hindu religion. We follow Mahatma Gandhi's ideal who had chanted 'Hey Ram' before dying," she said, addressing a poll rally at 'Chaudah Mill roundabout,' about 20 km from the district headquarters.
She alleged that while the saffron party claims to be a "champion of Hindu religion," the condition of the state-run cowsheds in Uttar Pradesh remains pitiable.
"They accuse us of being against religion for turning down invitations for the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. Just look at the condition of the cowsheds in UP where a video showed dogs eating flesh of a dead cow," she said.
She said that during the Congress rule in Chhattisgarh, the party improved the condition of cowsheds and used to purchase cow dung to aid self help groups running the cowsheds.
Priyanka has been canvassing every day in the Rae Bareli constituency, where Rahul Gandhi has thrown in his hat replacing his mother Sonia Gandhi, who had to vacate the seat after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
Priyanka highlighted the strong bond the Gandhi family has with the constituency since the days of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
"Bhaiya (Rahul Gandhi) will follow the tradition after winning the election," she said.
She accused the Modi government of trying to take credit for free ration scheme by putting his photograph on the papers related to the scheme, saying it was the Congress-led UPA government that brought the Right to Food Act.
The Congress leader also lambasted the BJP over frequent question papers leak in UP and promised stringent laws to stop such leaks.
She promised doing away with GST on education and scrap Agni-Veer scheme for recruitment in the armed forces if her party comes to power at the Centre.
She said her party will restore the earlier method of permanent appointment with pension provision for the army personnel.
The Congress general secretary also spoke about creating a Rs 5,000 crore fund to help small entrepreneurs.
Voting in Rae Bareli is scheduled in the fifth phase on May 20.
BJP has fielded Dinesh Pratap Singh to take on Rahul Gandhi. BSP of Mayawati has given ticket to Thakur Prasad Yadav.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
