Farmers Movement Archive

Under Priyanka Gandhi, Congress hopes to break Agra’s 26-year jinx

AGRA: For the past 26 years, Congress has not won a single assembly seat in Agra district. Now, under the leadership of party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, the party hopes to break the jinx. This time round, the Congress has given preference to fresh faces who have cut their teeth in politics. So far, the party has declared candidates for seven of the nine seats.Shikohabad’s ex-MLA quits SP, joins BJP In 1996, Congress candidate Mandleshwar Singh had won the Kheragarh seat. In the three other seats, the grand old party remained in second position. In the 2002 election, the party was not even in the reckoning. In the 2017 assembly election, Congress tried to revive its fortune by aligning with Samajwadi Party. Again, Congress candidates lagged in third and fourth positions. Now, all eyes are on Priyanka. Speaking with TOI, Amit Singh, state Congress committee secretary, said the mood among the party cadres is upbeat. “Priyanka ji’s ‘ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon' (I'm a girl, I can fight) campaign has received an overwhelming response. Congress is committed to fielding women candidates in 40% of the assembly seats. Priyanka ji has emerged as a voice of the women and weaker sections of society.” The party has fielded two women -- Shivani Singh Baghel and Manoj Dixit -- in Agra district. While Baghel is a young gram pradhan who will be contesting from Etmadpur, Dixit, a former district president of the party, is all set to take on the opposition at Bah. In Agra South seat, the party has fielded former councillor and member of the All India Congress Committee Anuj Sharma while veteran party worker Vinod Bansal will contest from Agra North seat, A young OBC worker, Hotham Singh Nishad, has been given the ticket for Fatehabad. For the Kheragarh seat, Congress has fielded Kargil war veteran Ramnath Singh Sikarwar, who led the tractor rally during farmers’ protest against three farm laws in Delhi. For the Agra Rural (SC) seat, Congress has repeated party’s state vice-president Upendra Singh for the third time.

The Times of India

2022-01-17