Spat on rail coach land issue on; Congress backlashes Mayawati

Lucknow, Oct 15 (UNI) The disagreement between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Congress president Sonia Gandhi over Rae Bareli land issue has worsened, with theCongress backlashing the former for ''bringing a shame upon democractic values'' by uttering ''disgraceful'' words for their party chief.

''Ms Mayawati has brought a shame upon both democractic and moral values by passing disgraceful comments on Ms Gandhi'' UP Congress chief Reeta Bahuguna Joshi today said in a sharp reaction.

Drawing a parallel between Ms Gandhi and Ms Mayawati, she said the former has set an exemplary for all by sacrificing the post of Prime Minsiter, while the latter was going up to any extent for political gains.

''In other words, Ms Gandhi is known for the great sacrifice that she made in her political span, while Ms Mayawati is known for her dictatorship,'' Ms Joshi claimed.

Ms Gandhi was making all efforts to uplift the youth and needy by creating job opportunities for them, but sadly the UP Chief Minister was stretching the issue and posing a hinderance to it, she charged.

Adding she said''Ms Mayawati should understand the critical phase our industrial sector was faced with, if she truely wishes the development of the state and the nation.'' ''The Congress leaders had never hesitated to go to jail and the trend would be maintained, if the need arises,'' the state unit Congress president quipped.

The Centre had always been friendly to the UP government and allotted the maximum fund of Rs 37,000 crore previous year, but the latter failed to spend it effectively and stored Rs 12,000 crore in the Public Lessure Account (PLA), Ms Joshi pointed out.

Ms Mayawati has amassed huge funds in the form of parks and busts and her government was representing itself as the most corrupt government, she alleged.

Earlier in the day, Ms Mayawati had made a scathing attack on the conduct of the Congress over the issue of land in Rae Bareli and charged Ms Gandhi for playing dirty politics. The UP Chief Minister had even raised the question why the issue was being raked now, just before the coming Lok sabha polls. ''Why did the Congress wake up so late in laying the foundation stone of the Rail Coach Factory, while it had been announced many years ago,'' Ms Mayawati had asked.

The spat had started on October 12, when the UP government had cancelled the land, as sought by the Railway Ministry for the setting-up of the proposed Rs 2,200-crore rail coach factory in Rae Bareli, which happens to be the parliamentary constituency of Ms Gandhi.

The very next day, the matter had reached the Allahabad High Court, which had passed status quo orders on the land.

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