Akhilesh pedalling cycle that 'is on its stand': Rahul Gandhi

Mainpuri (UP), Oct 2: Taking on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in his family bastion of Mainpuri, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today said he was pedalling the cycle which "is on its stand".

He said he had hopes that under young Akhilesh unlike the previous BSP government, the state would progress but the Chief Minister failed to live up to the expectations.

"It was the elephant (BSP government) which did nothing and then AKhilesh took over...It looked he will do something good for the people as he was a young Chief Minister, but contrary to my expectations he could not perform because he was pedalling a cycle that is on its stand.

First it was the "pathar-wali sarkar" and, when it went. came the "uncle-nephew" sarkar. Nobody did anything for the state," he said. BSP supremo Mayawati had come under fire for focussing on buildings, monuments and statues during her last term.

The Congress leader also targeted the Centre, saying it was doing nothing for the poor and the farmers in the country.

Underlining the importance of 'kisan and jawan', he said both were equally important for the country and the people cannot "imagine" their lives without them.

"We cannot imagine our lives without farmers in the field, and jawans on the borders," Rahul said. The Congress leader said people were aware of the conditions in which jawans were living on the borders to protect the country.

"They risk their lives for the country but they do not have facilities," Rahul said, adding salaries and facilities for the jawans and their families needed to be enhanced.

He said though his party is not in power in the country or the state, it will continue to fight for the rights of farmers from Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul, who was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Raj Babbar, paid floral tributes to the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi in a nagar palika campus here.

PTI