Urgent need to uproot BJP, SP and BSP: Rahul

Banda/Fatehpur, Apr 22 (UNI) Seeking support for Congress in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, AICC chief Sonia Gandhi's son and party 'star campaigner' Rahul Gandhi today said there was an urgent need to uproot the ''communal and racist thugs like SP, BJP and BSP''.

''All these parties have gone astray and are constantly engaged in spreading the poison of hatred in the society,'' Mr Gandhi maintained while addressing poll gatherings in Banda and Fatehpur districts.

Tongue-lashing BJP, the Congress MP alleged ''the party is sowing the seeds of communal disharmony. It is trying to divide Hindus and Muslims and build a wall of hatred in the society.

''I hold BJP, BSP and SP responsible for the present state of Uttar Pradesh. They have pushed the state three ages back. Without the development of UP, India cannot become number one on international level. Therefore, there is an urgent need to uproot these political parties,'' he underlined.

Inveighing the non-Congress regimes in the last 15 years, the party star campaigner charged, ''There had been only cases of loot, murders and rape in the state. They are constantly engaged in dividing UP in the name of religion and caste ditched people in the process.'' Fulminating the Mulayam Singh Yadav regime, the Amethi MP claimed that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre never meted out stepmotherly treatment to UP as Mr Yadav had alleged. In fact, the Centre had always provided development funds worth Rs crores to the state. ''But sadly, the funds were either misused or not used at all,'' he pointed out.

Expressing concern over the ''dismal'' performance of UP in all spheres of development, the Congress star campaigner urged support for his party to expedite the process of development and growth.

Seeking the support of youth in favour of Congress for their better future, the Amethi MP charged the successive regimes in UP with denying them the opportunity to become 'fuel' in the state's development.

UNI