UP left behind in development, people will move for job: Rahul

Barabanki (UP), Nov 22: Even before the controversy over his remarks on migration of people from Uttar Pradesh have died down, Rahul Gandhi today (Nov 22) said the state has been left behind in development and people from there will continue to go to other states in search of employment.

"The country has moved forward and you are lagging behind. If you do not move forward, then you will have to go to the rest of the country like you do," the Congress general secretary said addressing a rally in Barabanki.

"You go to Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana to work and you will have to keep doing that," he said.

Gandhi said that UP was losing out on the development opportunities that the other states were benefiting from.

"Bangalore has moved ahead in the IT sector. If UP wants to work in this sector, it cannot, because Bangalore and Hyderabad have established a monopoly in this sector.

"If you want to set up automobile industry in UP, then Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have already moved ahead and the loss is yours," he said.

Rahul's comments last week in his Phulpur rally on migration of people from UP to Maharashtra and other states suggesting they were begging had sparked a political slugfest as BJP, SP and other parties had been quick to attack him over the remarks. The Congress had dismissed the criticism as a reflection of opposition's "restlessness" over its "rise".

Attacking BSP and SP, the Congress leader told the gathering in Barabanki that their leaders give a lot of speeches but they could not hide what they have done in the past 20 years.

"What they have done in the past they will do so in the future," he said.

Rahul, who is elected to Lok Sabha from Amethi, alleged that all the governments UP had got in the past 20 years were against the people. "In the past 20 years, UP has had governments of BJP, BSP and SP but all of them were against the people," he said.

"The country does not lack money but the problem is that it does not reach the poor," he said.

"What is happening in UP is that in the past 20 years your money has not been reaching you. Either it gets stuck in Lucknow or it is held back by bureaucrats," he said.

Rahul, who is on a five-day tour of eastern UP, will also visit Bahraich, Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar and Kushinagar and meet party workers.

In his speech, Gandhi also targeted BSP leader Mayawati and her government, saying, "When we started MNREGA, the UP chief minister said that there was no need for it.

"In the entire country if you ask which is the government scheme from which you have benefitted the most, people say it is MNREGA. The UP chief minister says it is of no benefit."

The 41-year-old Congress MP alleged, "It is in UP that there is no benefit from MNREGA because the money is pocketed by contractors and ministers."

He further alleged that due to corruption at the state level, funds released by the Centre through its schemes were not reaching the people.

"We had started the 'Janani Suraksha Yojna' in which every woman who gives birth is given Rs1,400. But, in UP, it is the officers who pocket the money," Gandhi said.

Gandhi said that central funds for weavers would be directly sent to their accounts by the Union government to ensure that they reach the people they are intended for.

"We changed the system and now the money will directly reach in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries from a package Rs6,000 crore, besides a waiver of Rs3,000 crore loan," he said.

Making development his poll plank, Gandhi said there should be a change of government in Uttar Pradesh. "I want UP to develop. Roads should be constructed, industry should arrive, there should be water and electricity," he said.

"We can make a big start in five years and in ten years, we can take Uttar Pradesh to the first place. For the past twenty years, the country has been looking at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi but not at you. This has to be changed and only you can do it," he said.

PTI