Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has pledged to waive all farm loans and halve electricity bills if the Congress is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh next year.

Addressing a gathering in Barabanki on Saturday after flagging off the Congress’s Pratigya Yatra, Priyanka also announced that the minimum support prices of wheat, paddy and sugarcane would be raised.

“We have taken some pledges for you. We call on women to come forward and contest (the Assembly) elections as we want to reserve 40 per cent tickets for them. We have also decided to give smartphones to Class XII passouts and scooties to girls who become graduates. These are meant to empower them,” the Congress general secretary said.

“We will waive the loans of farmers and reduce electricity bills of people by half. Labourers who have been financially affected by the pandemic will be given Rs 25,000 each,” Priyanka added.

The minimum support price of paddy and wheat will be raised to Rs 2,500 per quintal and that of sugarcane to Rs 400 per quintal. The current MSP for paddy and wheat range between Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,940 per quintal, depending on the quality of the grain. The sugarcane MSP is Rs 250 per quintal

Priyanka promised to regularise the employment of those recruited by the state government on an ad hoc basis, including teachers. She also pledged to generate 20 lakh new government jobs in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress leader said the party would release an election manifesto specifically for women in addition to the general manifesto.

The Pratigya Yatra will take three different routes —Barabanki to Bundelkhand, Saharanpur to Mathura and Varanasi to Rae Bareli — from October 23 to November 1 with the slogan “Hum vachan nibhayenge (We will fulfil our pledge)”.

Priyanka said the way the Narendra Modi government was “protecting” Ajay Mishra Teni, the Union minister of state for home whose car ran over and killed four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3, was proof that the BJP government didn’t treat farmers as humans. Teni’s son Ashis Mishra, who was allegedly in the Thar jeep, was arrested only after the Supreme Court intervened.

“The minister’s son brutally killed farmers by crushing them under his vehicle. Initially, the government delayed his arrest and now it doesn’t want to suspend the minister. It is enough proof that the government doesn’t treat farmers as humans,” Priyanka said.