Engage youth power in UP: Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi, May 6: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called upon the party workers to wholeheartedly support the call to engage with the youth of Uttar Pradesh and to bring them into the forefront as agents of change in the Hindi heartland of India. "I see considerable good will and enthusiasm among the people for the unique message of the Congress. Our party workers in Uttar Pradesh have a special responsibility to translate this good will into actual votes," she said in a letter addressed to Congress workers published in the latest issue of the party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh.

Ms Gandhi said, based on its ideology of inclusive growth, the Congress wanted to bring the focus back to development in Uttar Pradesh."The State,that at one time led the nation in development goals, has slid to the bottom in the last 18 years of non-Congress rule." "It is time to turn the fortunes of Uttar Pradesh around again nd that can only happen if the current ruling dispensation is shown the door," the Congress President said.

The Congress, she said, was committed to the welfare of all sections of society, particularly the weaker section, The Congress was pledged to safeguarding the rights of minorities as defined by the Constitution.

Referring to Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Congress President said once again the ideological difference between the BJP and the Congress was clearly visible. "The BJP has wasted no time in bringing to the fore its communal agenda and thereby sown the seeds of distrust and hate." Ms Gandhi said once again thesiffrpm [artu's campaign was an attempt to spread hatred and disturb communal harmony as has been proved by the release of the CD against the minorities."The Congress condemns this in no uncertain terms .We will not allow these forces to succeed in their plans to create communal disturbances under any circumstances," she added.

The Congress President said the Samjawadi Party in Uttar Pradesh must answer for the total collapse of law and order and failure on the front of development in the State. "Ever since the Congress-led UPA Government came to power three years ago, thousands of crores of money have been transferred from the Central Government to Uttar Pradesh under various development programmes in areas like employment, rural development, roads, health, education, nutrition and other areas, "she said.

"Yet this money has not been used for the people in UP, Mrs Gandhi said,adding "no excuses can justify the pathetic human development indicators in the State." Stating that crime, loot and corruption had mounted under the rule of the Samajvadi Party while its delivery of electricity,road and water and other human and infrastructure services had plummeted abysmally,Mrs Gandhi said, "it is time to expose the mindless hooliganism that is synonymous with the Samjavadi Party's politics and usher in a new era of development and social harmony in Uttar Pradesh."

UNI