‘Zero plus zero results in zero’, says Adityanath on Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the Congress has only ‘extended the culture of political dynasty’ by appointing Gandhi to the party.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Friday said the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into politics will not improve the Congress party’s prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Zero plus zero results in zero,” Adityanath told reporters in Noida, according to PTI. “This will not make any impact on the poll outcome. With her appointment, the Congress has only extended its culture of political dynasty.”
The chief minister said Vadra had played a leading role during the 2014 General Elections and the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, but the Congress lost both. “The fate will be the same,” he told ANI. “It [Vadra’s entry into politics] will not have any impact on BJP.”
On Wednesday, the Congress appointed Vadra, the sister of party chief Rahul Gandhi, to the post of general secretary for the Uttar Pradesh East region. The region includes Gorakhpur from where Adityanath was elected as a Lok Sabha MP five times.
Other BJP leaders like Sushil Modi and Vinod Narayan Jha have criticised Vadra’s entry into politics. Modi on Thursday described Robert Vadra, who is being investigated by several government agencies for allegedly dubious land deals, as a “tainted life partner”, while Jha said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had a “beautiful face, but holds no political achievement.
Adityanath also criticised the Opposition alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, claiming that they had ignored Noida-Greater Noida region, according to PTI. “During the previous Samajwadi Party’s government’s full term in the state, 20,000 houses were sanctioned under the central housing scheme for all, but in a short span of time, we have built more than eight lakh houses. We are speeding up our efforts to make more houses for the people,” he said.