Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he has set a target for his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia to form the next government in Uttar Pradesh, PTI reported.

Vadra and Scindia were appointed general secretaries for Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “Priyanka and Scindia have been given a target,” PTI quoted Gandhi as saying. “That is to form a Congress government in Uttar Pradesh in the next election by defeating and wiping out the BJP,” he said, while addressing a public meeting in Salon in his parliamentary constituency Amethi.

Gandhi said the Congress will contest the Lok Sabha polls with full strength, “without taking a backward step”.

The Congress chief also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Rafale deal and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had waived loans for industrialists, which have been denied by the government. “The watchman proved to be a thief,” he said. Modi has previously referred to himself as the country’s chowkidaar, or watchman.

“Unlike PM Modi, I do not talk of a BJP-mukt Bharat, but speak with respect,” Gandhi said referring to Modi’s call to free India of the Congress.

Earlier on Thursday, Gandhi said that all the work in Uttar Pradesh that has been “stalled” by the central and state governments will resume once the party comes to power at the Centre.

“We will keep our promises,” he had said. “Amethi will get its food park back. You will get whatever [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi and [Chief Minister] Adityanath have denied you.”