Mayawati returns land for rail project in Rae Bareli

Lucknow, Oct 18 : Bahujan Samaj Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today withdrew her decision to cancel land allotment for the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli, which is Congress President Sonia Gandhi's constituency.

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet today decided to return the land for the project at Lalganj town.

The BSP chief said that 189 acres of land at Rae Bareli would be given to the Railways on lease for 90 years.

On Sunday, Mayawati had announced cancellation of land allotment, a day before Gandhi was to attend a rally for a ground-breaking ceremony.

State authorities had cited resentment among displaced farmers as the reason for the cancellation of the land deal.

Mayawati said that the railway coach factory in Rae Bareli was part of a political conspiracy to mislead the poor, specially the residents of the constituency.

On Monday, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had directed the state and the Centre to maintain the status quo on the land allotted to the Railways for setting up of a rail coach factory in Rae Bareli.

On Tuesday, a prohibitory order banned Sonia from holding a public meeting in Lalganj, but it couldn''t gag the Rae Bareli MP and Congress chief.

"This place is now my home. I don''t have to seek anyone''s permission to come here. No one can stop me from visiting Rae Bareli," she said at Lalganj railway station, accusing Mayawati of obstructing progress by cancelling the land allocation for a rail coach factory nearby.

The area, she said, was the "karmabhoomi" of the Nehru-Gandhi family and after Rajiv Gandhi, the mantle to nurse it had fallen on her and Rahul. Local residents gaped in awe as a defiant Sonia drove into Lalganj on Tuesday afternoon to take on Mayawati''s might.

Rescheduling her itinerary during her brief four-hour stay, the Congress president settled for an impromptu road show, which took her to Balhemau Usar farm - the contentious site for the coach factory.

ANI