BJP solely markets itself, promises are 'hollow': Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

Stirring a hornet's nest, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of solely concentrating on BJP's marketing strategies while pressing that promises made by them 'remain hollow'.

Addressing an election rally here in support of Congress candidate Rajkishore Singh, she fired a fresh salvo at PM Modi and said: "promises are hollow. Over the last five years, PM Modi was seen going to every place across the world, but was not once seen amid the farmers of his own country, who actually needed his assistance."

Continuing his tirade against the PM, Gandhi accused him of only talking about Pakistan in the name of nationalism. "For him, nationalism is all about speaking on the work he has done to counter Pakistan. Speaking on the employment and farmers issues are not nationalism for him. You boast about your 56-inch chest, but where is your heart?" she asked.

Amidst chants of "chowkidar chor hai", she asserted that job creation for youths, farmers' progress and safety of women are among the key challenges India is facing today.

"I can say this with confidence that the income of the farmers, which he promised to double, has come down. Farmers are going into debts. Over 12,000 farmers committed suicide this year alone. They marched barefooted to Delhi and asked for five minutes of his time but he refused," she said.

Talking about demonization and how it resulted in the loss of more than 50,000 jobs, she said: "50,000 youth lost their jobs due to demonetization. He linked nationalism to demonetization and made you stand in the line throughout the day. Did anyone of his minister stand in the queue? When Rahul Gandhi stood in line with you, they made fun of him. Their love for the country is apparently hollow."

Uttar Pradesh saw polling in the five phases of the Lok Sabha elections and will continue to see voting in the rest of the phases scheduled on May 12 and 19. The counting of votes will begin on May 23.