GUJARAT: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to weaken the democracy in the country and has pressurised every institution in the last 10 years to not comment against it. Addressing an election rally in Valsad, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “They (BJP) want to weaken the democracy and people of the nation. Institutions that protect your rights be it media have been weakened. Media used to ask us every day but nothing of that sort is happening today.” Referring to remarks of BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde on “rewriting constitution”, Priyanka Gandhi said that it is a “dangerous” trend. “You must have seen, the BJP leaders have said that they want to change the Constitution and PM Modi contradicts that statement. This is a dangerous trend. This constitution has given you all the rights, then what’s the need to change it?” she asked. She further went on to slam the BJP for “targeting” opposition leaders. “PM Modi is weakening the democracy. He is attacking the opposition daily. He froze Congress‘ bank accounts. Two Chief Ministers are in jail, my brother (Rahul Gandhi) was also almost kicked out of Parliament. 150 members were suspended in the Winter session recently, only Modiji is honest,” she said. Gujarat will vote on all 25 seats out of 26 in a single phase, which is slated for the third phase on May 7, 2024. BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed in Surat after nomination papers of the Congress party’s candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were rejected after his three proposers claimed in an affidavit to the district election officer that they had not signed his nomination form. The third phase will include constituencies from Kutch, Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Chhota Udaipur, Bharuch, Bardoli, Navsari, and Valsad.
