Amethi, July 17: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday lashed out at the Mayawati government for wasting thousands of crores of rupees in building statues and monuments related to BSP serving the political interests of her party.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s bail plea hearing postponed”There is place for statues and elephants (BSP symbol) but there should also be space for development and electricity,” Gandhi said, in an apparent reference to the controversy over erection of memorials for Kanshi Ram and statues of Mayawati in different parts of the state, spending huge sums of public money.
The Congress leader made this remark while addressing a gathering shortly after his arrival in his parliamentary constituency where he met his supporters in the backdrop of violent protests over power crisis in Amethi.
“The Mayawati government is not working in the best interest of its people. The situation in Uttar Pradesh is declining hence a Congress government is necessary to improve it,” he added. He said that the people of UP will see in the coming days how Congress works for the benefit of the poor.
“NRGA money does not reach people in time. Huge assistance that Centre provides to UP goes waste,” he said.
He also assured his delighted supporters that the power crisis in the state can be resolved only by the Congress government and urged them to support his party in the next election.
Striking an emotional chord with his supporters, Rahul said, “Utmost development of Amethi always remains my top priority irrespective of what I do and where I go.”
On the issue of state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna, Gandhi said the words used by her were ‘wrong’. However, he evaded the question of what action would be taken by the party against her.
This was Rahul’s first visit to Amethi after the Lok Sabha polls. During his day-long tour, he is scheduled to hold assembly segment-wise meetings with the party workers and polling agents at Salon, Jagdishpur, Tiloi, Gauriganj and Amethi.
On July 13, police lathicharged residents, who were protesting against acute power crisis in the area, resulting in a clash in which several persons were injured.
–Agencies