Congress is the best bet for UP, asserts Sonia

Barabanki, Apr 15: Describing Uttar Pradesh as the 'Barbaad Pradesh (ruined state)'under the present Mulayam Singh Yadav-led regime, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today appealed to voters to bring her party to power for a turnaround in the state.

''The state has already suffered a lot under ineffective caste-based and communal regimes and the time has come to weed out such parties to ensure speedy progress of Uttar Pradesh,'' she said while addressing a series of meetings at Badaun, Moradabad and Barabanki during her a day-long whirwind election campaign for UP assembly polls.

Exhorting the people of the state to be a part in rewriting the golden history of UP which has been ruined by corrupt and opportunist parties in the recent past, Ms Gandhi said if the Congress was not voted back to power, it would prove costly for the overall development of the state.

Lashing out at the non-Congress parties, she said these parties had hidden agenda against the Congress. ''They ask for the votes separately but become one after any of these ascended to power,'' she warned.

The Congress president alleged that some of the parties indulged in caste politics while others found shelter under communal politics to serve their ulterior motives. ''It is unfortunate that they seek votes on the basis of their ideologies but later join hands with the communal parties in order to gain power,'' she pointed out.

Pseudo-Samajwad, false Bahujan Samajwad and communal politics were what all the parties adhered to and this was the time to identify these undesirable elements to be kept out of the political scene, Ms Gandhi said adding ''the Congress remains the best bet for the people as it always indulged in value-based, secular and pro-people policies.'' Tongue-lashing the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress chief said Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav would be made accountable for crores of rupees provided by the Centre for development of the state.

''The Centre never meted out 'step-motherly' treatment to UP. We always provided financial assistance to the state government but the funds were either mis-used or not used at all,'' Ms Gandhi said. She also asked the people to probe if the benefits of the central schems had reached the grass root level or not.

The senior Congress leader alleged, ''it is painful that criminals rule the roost in UP. The state is plagued by unemployment, poverty and gunda raj. Even the police is hand-in-glove with them.'' She further alleged the golden status of UP was lost due to 'vested interests' of the non-Congress governments in the last eighteen years. ''Those in power...always cheated people.'' Claiming the United Progressive Alliance(UPA) government at the Centre was alive to all the problems of the people including price rise, Ms Gandhi said the Central government had taken many corrective measures like lowering the petroleum product rates.

''It was on the initiative of the UPA that the rights of the state governments with regards to check the hoarding black marketeering were restored,''she said while pointing out that the states were stripped of such rights by the previous BJP-led National Democratic alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

Traversing across the western part of UP from Badaun to the this central part about 25 kms from the state capital, Sonia received a tumultous welcome at all the places.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also campaigned in the state today while Priyanka Gandhi also wound up her three-day tour of Amethi parlaimentary constituency this afternoon.

UNI