UP desperately needs modern leadership: PM

New Delhi, Dec 23 (UNI) With an eye on the UP Assembly elections next year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the state desperately ''needs a forward looking and modern leadership''.

''The people of Uttar Pradesh need a government that will invest in their future,'' Dr Singh said after presenting the Laxmipat Singhania-IIM Lucknow National Leadership Awards here.

Hiting out at the Mulayam Singh government, he said that in the recent years Uttar Pradesh had been held back by a leadership that only thought about the past.

''The people need a leadership that is thinking about the future,'' he said.

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