Rahul slams SP, BSP; seeks ten-year Congress rule in UP

Badaun/Bhimnagar, Dec 13: Taking his campaign to Mulayam Singh Yadav's turf, Rahul Gandhi today (Dec 13) stepped up his offensive against SP and BSP and sought a ten-year Congress rule in UP to bring about a major transformation through fast-tracking developmental work in the state.

Gandhi, who began his five-day trip today, said only Congress has taken up the cause of people in the state. Citing Bhatta Parsaul, where farmers were targeted in May, he said, none of the other parties barring Congress were seen there.

"In the past 20 years, what did you get? You trusted SP. What did you get back in return? You trusted BSP. What did you get? (You got) corruption. Now, we are talking about development, we are talking about the future.

"UP can change. This is not difficult. Take it from me in writing. In five years, we can start changing this state and in ten years, people from outside will come here looking for jobs. People will then ask, what is happening in UP...we can change things easily," he told a political rally here.

Samajwadi Party workers attempted to block the cavalcade of Gandhi, who started his five-day tour of western districts of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

About 15 Samajwadi Party activists were detained as they tried to breach the security cordon of Gandhi, who is an SPG protectee, Senior Superintendent of Police Satyendra Veer Singh said.

Claiming that people have been suffering for the past two decades, Gandhi said people ask him why they have to leave UP for jobs outside.

Launching an attack on Mayawati, he said there were scams in every constituency and there was no dearth of money but "ministers are stealing it".

"The money is not reaching you. Influential people do not feel the problems but it is the poor who are suffering. The problem today is that the leaders do not come to the ground," he said.

Gandhi said people from Uttar Pradesh are going to Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab and contributing to the development of these states. He added that once Congress formed its government the youth would get employment in the state itself and they would be making contribution to its growth.

Targetting political rivals, he said that "people of the state showed confidence in the Samawjadi Party and they got nothing and then they backed BSP and got corruption".

During his tour, Gandhi would address 19 public meetings in as many assembly constituencies.

In the next four days, he will address public meetings in Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Farukkhabad, Kannauj and Auraiya districts. Rahul's tour would culminate at Akbarpur in Kanpur (rural) district on December 17.

Without taking names, the Congress leader said that in order to really understand poverty it was necessary to go to villages eat their food and take the contaminated water that the villagers are taking but your leaders are not doing it.

"It is required that one moves at the ground level to understand the reality but the leaders are viewing things from their helpcopters", he said.

Referring to his visit to Maharashtra, he said that a native of UP there complained that he was being harassed by Shiv Sena and asked as to when he would get job in his own state. "It is things like these that make me angry", he said.

Reiterating his charge against the Mayawati government of snatching land from farmers and opening fire on those demanding appropriate compensation, Rahul also accused her of terming MGNREGS as an unnecessary programme.

He also repeated his charge of opposition members opposing the proposed land acquisition in the standing committee of the parliament.

Referring to MNREGS and Safe motherhood schemes of the central government, he alleged misuse of funds saying that the money meant for the common people was not reaching them.

He also referred to the "India Shining" slogan of the UPA, saying that the country would not shine till there is even a single poor.

PTI