False consolations: Delhi’s anganwadi workers call out Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi, July 26: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's support to sacked anganwadi workers on Monday was called into question by them, who said the leader's gesture was empty as Congress' own Abhishek Manu Singhvi was representing the Delhi government in the case against the terminated workers.

Earlier in the day, Priyanka Gandhi came out in support of the 884 anganwadi workers terminated by the Delhi government for staging a protest and going on strike, news agency PTI reported.

Priyanka Gandhi termed the decision "unjust" and demanded the city government to immediately reinstate the sacked employees.

She was later slammed for staging a "farce" by the workers' union, which said Congress' own leader was representing the government in the Delhi High court against the sacked workers.

"Priyanka Gandhi is 'supporting' the struggle of Delhi Anganwadi workers while Congress' own Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi is advocating on behalf of the Delhi government against the Anganwadi workers," Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union (DSAWHU) said in a statement.

The union said, though the Congress raised their issues through press conferences in Punjab and Delhi, these were "nothing but false consolations." DSAWHU said the "sympathy" of the Congress towards Anganwadi workers was only a "farce" and that the party was raising the issue only for "electoral gains." "If the Congress is so sympathetic to the demand for a respectable honorarium then why is it not increasing the honorariums of the scheme workers to ₹ 25,000 in the states where it is the ruling government?" asked DSAWHU.