Lucknow: Priyanka Maurya, the face of Congress’ ‘Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon’ (I’m a girl, I can fight) campaign in Uttar Pradesh, is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Disgruntled over being denied a Congress ticket for the Uttar Pradesh polls, Priyanka Maurya might join the BJP on Wednesday, sources said.
Earlier, Priyanka Maurya had alleged that Congress’s distribution of tickets ahead of the Assembly election was rigged. “Congress used my face, my name and my 10 lakh social media followers for the campaign. But when it came to the ticket for the upcoming election, it was given to someone else. This is injustice. It is all pre-decided,” Priyanka Maurya, vice president of Mahila Congress in Uttar Pradesh, said. “I did not get the ticket because I am an OBC (Other Backward Classes) girl and could not bribe Priyanka Gandhi’s secretary Sandeep Singh,” Priyanka Maurya said.
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections around the corner, the Congress had planned to reach out to 5 crore women voters in the poll-bound state. Also, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi had earlier announced in Lucknow that Congress would give 40 per cent of tickets to women a candidate (which means 160 candidates) in the UP polls. For the Punjab Assembly polls, the Congress recently released its first candidate list. Out of the 86 candidates, the party decided to field only 9 women candidates in the upcoming polls.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Mahila Congress chief Sarita Arya said, “”Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon [I’m a girl, I can fight] gave us hope. As a result, we demanded that women receive 20 per cent of the vote in state elections. However, some women coworkers are telling me that if you can’t get a ticket for yourself, how will you get one for us?” The Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022 will be held from February 10th in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10th.