Vote-cutting: Priyanka says Congress fielded strong candidates

Facing heat over her "vote-cutting" remarks from the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said that her party had fielded strong candidates against the BJP to win the Lok Sabha elections.

On Wednesday, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had told reporters in Amethi that her party's strong candidates will win on their own and the weaker candidates will cut into the BJP's votes.

The BJP and the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav reacted sharply to her comment calling it an admission of Congress' defeat even before the polls.

Making a u-turn a day later, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said: "The Congress candidates are strong and we are fighting the elections strongly. And the BJP will face losses in this election."

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also the Congress in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, also said, "The problems of people need to be raised and their solutions discussed during elections. We are hoping that the BJP will lose and that is why we are working," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi, campaigned for her brother and party President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi for two consecutive days on Tuesday and Wednesday. She arrived in her mother's constituency here on Thursday morning.

This is her sixth visit to Rae Bareli in the last one-and-a-half month.

--IANS

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