By IANS,
Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh state Congress Thursday announced a state-wide agitation against the Mayawati government’s decision to withdraw the land for the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli, the officials said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress are at loggerheads as Mayawati Monday cancelled land allotment for a rail coach factory in Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli constituency and then imposed prohibitory orders to prevent the Congress president from addressing a rally.
“Starting Oct 19 our workers and office bearers of all the districts will launch an agitation and we also challenge Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to stop us by using all possible methods,” state congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters here.
“We also suggest to Mayawati to implement prohibitory orders in the entire state and we will defy it,” she added.
However, the Congress clarified that it didn’t have any differences with a person or a political party.
“We term this (Congress vs BSP) to be a war between development and destruction rather than a tussle between two political parties,” Joshi said.
The Congress agitation will be termed ‘Vikas Lao Pradesh Bachao, Mayawati hosh me aao’ (Prefer development for the benefit of the state, Mayawati please wake up), she added.
“Besides the rail coach factory (a Rs.12 billion project), the state government has turned deaf ears to projects worth over Rs.50 billion in Rae Bareli and adjoining regions,” Joshi said.
The Congress claimed that such an “anti-development” attitude of Mayawati will only accelerate BSP’s disappearance from the political map of the state.
“Uttarakhand was on top of the Tata’s wish list when it decided to abandon the Singur Nano project. Was it not a wise idea for Mayawati to extend an invitation and grant them land in the much discussed Bundelkhand region?,” questioned Joshi.
“Mayawati has challenged us and we will give a befitting reply,” she added.