This election is a battle of ideologies: Priyanka

IANS/Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra yesterday hit out at the main opposition party’s "one-man show" while campaigning for her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the Lok Sabha polls.

Vadra told a gathering during a roadshow in Raseta area that the ongoing national election was a "war of ideologies." Rae Bareli goes to the polls on April 30.

Without naming Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Vadra accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of centralising all powers in one man, but the Congress believed in taking everyone along.

Vadra addressed 10 election rallies in the region.

She said people should be aware about the national scenario and think before casting their vote.

"This election is a fight between two different ideologies. Our party believes in unity, unlike other parties."

On her grandmother, late prime minister Indira Gandhi, Vadra said people of the region had always voted against divisive forces in the past.

"This is where Indira Gandhi worked, here people believe in taking everyone along,” she said.

Vadra is managing the campaign of her mother, and would also be holding fort for her brother and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who is contesting from neighbouring Amethi.

Meanwhile, in Karimnagar, Sonia Gandhi claimed the formation of a separate Telangana state was not possible without the Congress, and appealed to the people to vote for the party for a bright future and for development with peace and social justice.

Kickstarting party's election campaign in Telangana, the Congress president said the party kept its promise to deliver Telangana state and fulfilled 60-year-old dream of the people.

Addressing a public meeting in the Telangana town of Karimnagar, Gandhi said since the time has come for running the new state with responsibility, the people should vote for the Congress to ensure peace and development.

Gandhi targeted the BJP, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress for opposing the Telangana bill in parliament. She did not spare the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has refused to merge with the Congress or even to have an electoral alliance with it.

"The TRS had no role in drafting and passing the Telangana bill," she said and pointed out that seven months before TRS was formed in 2001, Congress legislators from Telangana had met and passed a resolution, demanding the party leadership to back a separate Telangana state.

"The TRS talks only the language of intimidation," she said while claiming that the Congress alone can take along all sections of people. She also made it clear that the people of both Telangana and Seemandhra were close to her heart.

It was the Gandhi's first public address in Telangana after the parliament passed the Telangana bill in February.

"The Congress has turned your dream into reality. On June 2 Telangana will become the 29th state. I am happy to participate in your celebrations," said the Congress president, who had promised a separate state at the same venue during election campaign in 2009.

Earlier in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, Gandhi said the BJP is caught up in the hands of a single individual and the nation should not fall into this trap.

She also said the Congress has done the most to help the Sri Lankan Tamils.

Gandhi said the nation is being divided on the basis of religion which in turn would destroy social peace.

She said if the social peace is disturbed then economic and social growth would get affected.

Gandhi said the BJP is in the hands of a single individual. She urged the people to see that the nation does not get into his hands.

According to her, Congress' philosophy is to provide equal opportunity for all which is India's dream.