Amid move by political parties to tap the votes of Brahmin, Backward, Dalit and other caste and communities for the coming Assembly elections, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday tried to attract half of the population by announcing 40 per cent reservations in the party tickets to women contestants in Uttar Pradesh.

Priyanka said her party’s decision is based on realism and idealism. She said all women who want to bring about a change in the system, are welcome to come forward and contest elections.

“Any woman who wants to contest can give an application till October 15,” she said.

She did not rule out contesting the Assembly polls in the State to lead from the front. “That is not the issue of contesting the polls and I had yet to take a call on it. Let’s see how things progress on and it will be decided in time to come,” she said.

Priyanka was addressing a Press conference here on Tuesday where she announced 40 per cent of seats reserved by the party in UP polls to be given on merit. Slamming Yogi Adityanath’s Government on the issue of crime against women, the Congress leader said UP CM has a “patriarchal mindset” and wants to keep women under supervision.

“What does UP CM say? He says women should live under parental guidance. When this is the thought process, I wonder in what generation of mindset they live.  In every speech you say matao aur behno. Yes, we are mothers and sisters but we also have an identity as a woman. What’s the point when you can’t recognise us as women,” she asked.

“As I had said earlier, over the past 2 years wherever I went in Uttar Pradesh, I had seen women struggling, fighting for their rights. Every walk of women has been fighting for her rights. Violence against women has increased from Unnao to Hathras and to Lakhimpur, women has been victim of patriarchy, caste domination and exploration. I feel larger participation in politics is the key to fighting out against oppression,” she said.

Priyanka said idealism and realism both should be in politics. “Both need to co exist. I truly believe it is both idealistic as well as realistic. 50 per cent of our society is women so what stops them from coming together. Effort is now being made to build this unity,” she added.

Hitting out at the Opposition about her new women strategy, she said,” Our rivals will see it with a negative mindset. Let them do so. I believe the real purpose of politics is development and change for betterment. Today the meaning of politics has changed.”

Claiming that there was effort to mislead people by false propaganda about development and better life, she asked, “Who is able to pay Rs 1,000 for a cooking gas cylinder? Who is not troubled with escalating prices of petrol and diesel?”

“People are thinking what actually betterment has taken place in their life. People are unable to meet the household expenses but advertisements claim that all is good,” she alleged.

Meanwhile, when asked whether the same formula of 40 per cent reservation for women would be extended to the Congress-ruled States, including Punjab, Priyanka said, “I am in charge of UP and we have taken this decision here. If they (Punjab), they are welcome to implement the formula.”

She said women were being divided on the basis of caste which weakened their battle for justice. “A woman’s struggle is not limited to a gas cylinder or Rs 2,000. It goes beyond that. We have to rise above the shackles of casteism and communalism and come together as a group,” she said.

When asked whether wives and daughters of leaders would not take advantage of this reservation, Priyanka said, “What is wrong with that if it leads to empowerment. In Amethi, a village pradhan’s wife contested and won elections. After some months, he met me and said that his wife has started making decisions in the house as well. This is empowerment.”

She said the Congress would help women fight elections and next time, they will be stronger. She further said the candidates would be decided on the basis of merit. Talking about the Opposition onslaught on her, Priyanka said, “The other parties should get more creative when they attack me. Political tourists and Twitter leaders have become stale,” she said.

Priyanka is touring the poll-bound state for the last few months regularly and meeting the party workers. She is now all set to shift base permanently to Lucknow till elections are held.

Priyanka wants to send a message to the Congress workers that the party leadership is serious about its revival plans and wants to fight the next assembly polls with full force. Priyanka has asked party workers to strengthen the party at the block level, form committees and reach out to the public.