LUCKNOW: Even as Uttar Pradesh is set to hit the polls in a few days time, Dimple Yadav, the wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has hit the campaign trail pulling a large crowd of female voters at the Ramlila Ground in Agra on Wednesday.
Dimple started her day by addressing the first rally at Bah, the rural constituency of Agra district going to the polls on February 11.
Accompanied by Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan, Dimple sought support for party candidate Anshu Rani Nishad who was recently christened “Garibon ki Rani” by the UP CM.
Apart from Jaya Bachchan, Vidya Balan too had joined Dimple, who addressed three back-to-back rallies in support of two women candidates—Mamta Taplu and Rajabeti Devi in Agra Cantonment and Etmadpur respectively. But Balan somehow could not make it to Agra.
The Samajwadi Party has fielded 12 per cent women candidates in the coming assembly elections. While BJP has fielded Rani Pakshalika Singh from the Bhadawar royal family, former MLA Madhusudan Sharma is contesting as the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Bah.
Two-time MP from Kannauj, Dimple, highlighted the achievements of her husband during his last five years as the Chief Minister.
“Unhone bahut achcha kaam kiya hai. Bahut saari janhit ke yojnayen chalayee hain (He has done a commendable job by launching a lot of projects to benefit the people),” she said.
Claiming that Akhilesh Government had accomplished all the promises made during previous assembly elections, Dimple assured the voters of their all-round development if the SP was voted back to power with Akhilesh as their CM.
Spelling out the women-specific populist schemes of the SP manifesto, Dimple promised free pressure cookers for housewives, an extension of the pension scheme for women, covering one crore destitute, with an increased monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 instead of the Rs 500 provided by the ruling SP government so far.
The Kannauj MP also reiterated the promise of giving free milk powder and ghee to every household, scholarships to girl students, free education till graduation, and many other similar schemes. She made a special mention of women powerline created exclusively to ensure police help in distress due to eve-teasing and other such situations.
At the same time, Jaya Bachchan, in her address, focussed mainly on the opposition parties and their promises to women through election manifestos. She also reminded the crowd how the BJP-led NDA at the Centre and previous BSP regime in UP failed to address the woes of women in the state.