Priyanka Gandhi gave her security team the slip in Amethi Thursday, driving off and reaching a village campaign site where she shouldn?t have been according to the schedule the SPG team had charted for her. And when the guards finally reached there, she asked them to stay away because they were creating a distance between her and her audience. Some villagers had reportedly complained that Priyanka is surrounded either by the media or her guards rather than locals.
Priyanka drove away from Gandhinagar and to address her first meeting at Shankarganj, which the SPG had scheduled for her second meeting. Sources said this left her without security for 20 to 25 minutes.
As SPG vehicles along with a jammer reached the next spot, Shahmau, she asked them not to follow her. SPG officials and many Congress leaders kept a distance after that. The SPG also reduced the number of vehicles following her, including the jammer.
In Shahmau, she urged villagers to vote for bade bhaiyya Rahul Gandhi because ?he works for you with dedication?. From here, Priyanka set off on foot with just a few local leaders with her and one or two officials for security. At Ariyawan village, she sat on a pile of bricks. As the villagers came running out, she asked all of them to sit next to her.
?Mat roko aaj inko (don?t stop them today),? she told local party leaders. ?I am here to listen to them today.? Villagers complained to her about a canal that hasn?t had water for 10 years. ?You must reply to them why there is no water in this canal, and whether this road has been sanctioned,? Priyanka told local Congress MLA Mohd Muslim, who then tried to explain the hurdles in his way. Priyanka then told villagers how her family has got work done for the area, that locals have loved her family and that she hopes they will continue to do so.
At Kahnapur Chappra village, she praised her father Rajiv Gandhi and said, ?Rahul is my elder brother, take care of him.? While leaving, she told those walking with her? ?See no one is jostled.?
Priyanka praised Mulayam Singh Yadav at every public meeting for ensuring 24-hour electricity to Rae Bareli and Amethi immediately after Sonia Gandhi had spoken to him. She said that it was the opposition who had got it stopped. ?Jab Sonia ji ne baat kari, to agle din Mulayam Singh ji ne bijli de di.?
– MAULSHREE SETH
