Priyanka Gandhi brings back memories of Indira in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram : The arrival of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Kerala aimed at stopping Pinarayi Vijayan’s march towards a second term, appeared to be working on Tuesday as huge crowds flanked the roads where her roadshow was scheduled to pass.When she spoke at her first election rally, many saw shades of her grandmother Indira Gandhi who was the darling of many in Kerala.Not one to disappoint, Priyanka Gandhi was seen taking her SUV ride greeting people enthusiastically as they waved to her from everywhere roof-tops and buildings as her cavalcade passed.As she began her speech at Karunagapally, about 100 km from here, she tore into Chief Minister Vijayan.”It’s here where the most educated people are and hence all eyes are on the way you are going to vote as it will lay the path forward for our country.”You have to speak as you are the greatest strength and you are the real gold.”The real gold is you — the people — but unfortunately for Kerala Chief Minister he deals with smuggled gold,” said Priyanka Gandhi, and was greeted with a huge rounds of applause.”They no longer follow the Communist manifesto as today they follow the Corporate manifesto.”In the past five years, he has been following the principle of fear, favouritism and fraud. He has instilled a sense of fear and all the tall promises that was made has fallen flat as there was no alternate model of development, as was promised,” said Priyanka Gandhi.
Breathing fire against the Vijayan government, she said: “Every time something comes out, all what we hear is the Chief Minister saying he has no idea.”If so, then who is running the government. In the EMCC deep sea fishing scam, even WhatsApp messages implicating his office came out and he says he has no idea.”Same was his response, when the gold scam case surfaced and when the Sprinklr data scam came out,” the Congress leader said.She also came down heavily on the ruling party for the way all the jobs were kept aside for the party supporters, despite the presence of qualified Kerala youths, who were overlooked.”When he should have supported the fishing community, he sold their livelihood for Rs 5,000 crore to a US firm. When these are all the truths of his governance, everything has been managed by a huge public relation exercise.”So you should know which MLA and which party has been with you and on April 6, when you choose to vote, you should choose well. My wish is you all should vote for the Congress and lay a new path for governance,” added Gandhi.Priyanka Gandhi is on a hectic schedule, travelling by helicopter on longer routes and sprucing them up with road shows crisscrossing the state with corner meetings, where sizeable crowds are gathering.By the end of the day, she would have covered four districts and on Wednesday before she returns, she would have covered another four districts.While all the pre-poll surveys having predicted Vijayan to get a second term, the Congress-led UDF is in an upbeat mood as they have sensed their trump card — swinging back the electorate.The Gandhi siblings are going all out. Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi who has already completed two phases of his campaign is all set to return later this week.