Hoardings of Robert Vadra surface in Ghaziabad
GHAZIABAD: With the announcement of Lok Sabha polls vround the corner, the youth wing of the Congress party seems to be making a pitch for Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s brother-inlaw Robert Vadra as a candidate from Ghaziabad.
Several hoardings were spotted near Kaushambi Metro station on Saturday with a “demand” to field Vadra as the Congress party candidate from the city. “Ghaziabad kare pukar, Robert Vadra abki baar”, is the message printed on the hoardings, which roughly translates as “Ghaziabad calls for Robert Vadra this time”. The hoardings have been put up in the name of ‘Ghaziabad Youth Congress’. Vadra, who is married to Priyanka Gandhi, is facing a probe by the enforcement directorate in connection with cases of suspected money laundering.
The cases under probe relate to the alleged purchase of illegal assets abroad and also in connection with an alleged land scam in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The agency had earlier carried out searches at Vadra’s offices in Delhi. He
HE SAID THE GHAZIABAD UNIT HAS ALREADY DESPATCHED NAMES OF 7 TO 8 PROBABLES TO THE PARTY LEADERSHIP.
had also appeared before the ED for questioning on multiple occasions in Delhi and Jaipur.
Priyanka was made the party’s general secretary in-charge of the eastern Uttar Pradesh on January 23. Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia is the in-charge of western UP, which includes Ghaziabad.
A week ago, similar posters of Vadra had surfaced in Moradabad, urging him to contest elections. However, the Ghaziabad Congress committee said it is clueless about who put up these hoardings. “We have no information about who had put up the hoardings. Decision for any candidate from Ghaziabad is to be taken by the party’s high command in consultation with Jyotiraditya Scindia and Priyanka Gandhi. If a decision (to bring in Vadra) is taken, we will welcome it and stand by our candidate,” Harendra Kasana, Congress district president from Ghaziabad, said.
He said the Ghaziabad unit has already despatched names of 7 to 8 probables to the party leadership. Sources said the list includes former MP Surendra Goyal, Harendra Kasana, Satish Tyagi, KK Sharma, former mayoral candidate Dolly Sharma, Om Prakash Sharma, and others.
The Congress on Thursday released its first list of 11 candidates, which included Rahul Gandhi and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, as candidates from UP.