Lok Sabha election | People want change, says Priyanka Gandhi

Lok Sabha news | Priyanka Gandhi Vadra challenges PM Narendra Modi to focus on unemployment, inflation, and farmers' issues

Asserting that people of the country want change and are fed up with being "lied" to, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on May 8 said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been "using his imagination a lot" in his speeches and not speaking on the basis of facts.

Her remarks came a day after Prime Minister Modi claimed the Congress will reverse the Supreme Court verdict on the Ram temple if voted to power just like its landmark 1985 ruling in the Shah Bano case was overturned by the Rajiv Gandhi government as part of the party's appeasement politics.

In an exclusive interview with PTI while on the campaign trail in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli from where her brother Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress general secretary challenged Mr. Modi to speak on issues of unemployment, inflation rise and farmers' plight.

Asked about her assessment of the ground situation after three rounds of the seven-phase polls, Ms. Gandhi said, "My assessment is that people want change. Everywhere I go I get the sense that people are fed up now of being lied to, they are fed up with the level of discussion that is taking place in the media and on political stages."

"They want their problems to be discussed, they want solutions, they want to know what has the government done for unemployment, what has it done to reduce prices which are so high, what is it doing to actually help the farmer, help the labourer, help the people with their problems," she said.

Ms. Gandhi also said she gets the impression that winds of change are blowing in the country. She said the ruling party’s estimates are going down when questioned about the BJP’s claim of ‘400 paar’ for the NDA and 370 for the BJP. She said their claims will go down further as the election season continues.

Asked about the issues raised by the BJP and Prime Minister Modi such as the claim that the Congress will redistribute wealth if it comes to power, Ms. Gandhi said, "I challenge the prime minister to raise the issue of unemployment which is the worst it has been in 45 years. I challenge the prime minister to tell us which institutions the BJP has built, I challenge the prime minister to name one scheme that he has actually started himself and is not a scheme that was started by the Congress but he has renamed."