Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday addressed a public rally at Shirdi and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to publicly commit to conducting a caste census.

“I challenge PM Modi and HM Amit Shah to stand on a stage and declare that they will conduct a caste census and remove the 50 per cent cap on reservation,” she said. 

As per ECI, polling for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra is scheduled to take place on November 20.

Priyanka further added that her brother Rahul Gandhi undertook the Bharat Jodo Yatra to advocate for a caste census.

“They (BJP) claim my brother is against reservation. This is the same person (Rahul Gandhi) who walked from Manipur to Mumbai demanding justice. He walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir demanding a caste census. They spread lies because they are scared. How can we allocate reservations effectively without knowing the population composition of each caste?” she said.

Priyanka’s remarks come a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh criticised Rahul Gandhi’s stance on the caste census during an election campaign in Jharkhand.

“By talking about the caste census, I believe he is attempting to mislead the people of this country. He must present a clear blueprint on how he intends to allocate reservations to different castes. Let him provide a concrete plan so that a nationwide debate can take place. But for now, he is only misleading the citizens,” Rajnath Singh said in response to Rahul Gandhi’s comments.