Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days. He was addressing a press conference where he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are put on the lap and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies he said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

On being questioned about Congress leaders changing constituencies Kharge asked how many times have Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani changed their seats. His response came when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala’s Wayanad instead of Amethi. Referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge said the Congress is not affected by people who grew up in the party and left it later.

The Congress president launched an all round attack on the BJP and PM Modi and said the prime minister did not implement even one of his electoral promises and still says Modi did a lot of work for the country. Addressing the press conference he said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent. He said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. The Congress President said the BJP speaks so much about patriotism and that the contribution of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri is nothing before them.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.

Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?

Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.

She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.

Union Minister Smriti Irani took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi on Saturday during a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi. While addressing the public rally, Irani said Rahul Gandhi spoke about his relations in Amethi and then he went to Wayanad where he declared the Kerala seat as his home as he filed for his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections.

Smriti Irani, who will be contesting her Amethi seat yet again, criticised the Rahul Gandhi for changing his families and said they have seen people changing colours, but for the first time changing families is being witnessed. The Union minister urged the people of Amethi to cast their votes on May 20, the day when Amethi goes for elections. She talked about the benefits of voting for BJP and said, the poor will get free ration for five years, farmers will get Rs 6,000 every month, and will get Rs 5 lakh every year under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Irani further added that Congress on the other hand has declared that it will calculate the wealth of the people if voted to power. She took a swipe over Congress candidates and said the grand old party is yet to announce its candidates for two key constituencies in Uttar Pradesh – Amethi and Raebareli, which have historically been the Congress’s stronghold.  The BJP leader said that now that the polling in Wayanad has concluded, the Congress candidate will arrive in Amethi, but will first visit the Ram Temple.

She slammed Congress for rejecting the invitation to the Ram Temple Pran Pratishtha and said they rejected the invitation to the Ram temple Pran Pratishtha, now they will go to the Ram temple as they believe that this will get them votes in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections which means now they will go to the extent of betraying god as well.