New Delhi, March 16: “When Rahul speaks, Maya’s throne shakes,” said Congress on Tuesday, reacting to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s warning to the people to guard against Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi as he would play Dalit card in the state to win their votes.
Addressing the silver jubilee rally of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Lucknow Monday, Mayawati, referring to Rahul Gandhi’s visits to Dalit homes and his meal-sharing with Dalit families in Uttar Pradesh villages, warned the people to “guard against” him and his mother, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. They “will continue to play such tricks to impress you”, she said.
The Congress also slammed Mayawati for her alleged spending of crores of rupees to organise the rally and her administration’s failure in containing the communal violence in Bareilly.
“When Bareilly is burning, the Nero of UP is playing the piano,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.
On the expenses for the BSP rally, Tewari noted there was no money for farmers hit by drought and the victims of Ashram stampede in Pratapgarh. “What is happening in UP?” he asked.
The party also demanded a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court into the communal violence in Bareilly city where a minor communal clash followed by sporadic incidents of arson March 2 led the administration to clamp curfew in several parts of the city and Bareilly district.
—Agencies