UP: Rahul calls youth to support him for dvpt

Khatauli, UP, Mar 19: Renewing his call to UP's youth to aid him in ''bringing the state back on the path of development,'' Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi today urged them to ''free UP'' from the clutches of ''goonda raj and ''maladministration.'' Quoting Swami Vivekananda's exhortaion to ''awake, arise and stop not,'' he told a large crowd here that the ''accomplishment of this task was well within their hands'' and he would ''march shoulder-to-shoulder with them to put the state back on the rails of development and prosperity.''

Addressing a rally here on his way to Muzaffarnagar town on the second day of his whistle-stop tour of Western UP, which effectively marks the start of the Congress' election campaign in the poll-bound state, Rahul, however, told those assembled that his visit was ''not merely due to the coming elections'' and he would ''work as long as it takes with them to usher in development again.'' Recalling his trips to various parts of India, he said he had noted that most of the development was due to the efforts of the people of UP.

''If you can enable development of other states, it is well within your capabilities to do the same for UP,'' Rahul said. Seeking to refute the allegation that the Congress was not interested in promoting promising young leaders, he asked the youth to ''take over the reins.'' Lambasting the previous regimes in the state, he said they -- especially the regional parties -- had ''exploited the people on the basis of religion and caste but had never provided them any benefits.'' Citing one example, he noted that in the 15 plus years the Congress had been out of power in the state, ''no regime had succeeded in adding even a megawatt to UP's power generation capacity.'' On his way here, the young Congress' leader made a couple of stops -- one at Daurala in Meerut district where Rahul garlanded a statue of former Prime Minister and prominent farmer leader Chaudhury Charan Singh and a wayside tea shop where he interacted with the people present.

Rahul stood on the rooftop of his Land Cruiser, being driven by close family friend and former Union Minister Satish Sharma, as his cavalcade entered any settlement, to greet the people, who were waiting to receive him.

UPCC president Salman Khurshid and other Congress leaders are accompanying Rahul on his trip.

UNI