By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday virtually put Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a bind by demanding Rs.50 billion from the central government for reviving the “decaying” industrial units in Rae Bareli and Sultanpur districts.
While Sonia Gandhi represents Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha, her son Rahul is the Congress MP from Amethi, which is part of Sultanpur district.
“After carrying out a detailed survey, we found a long list of industrial units which have shut shop or were decaying in the these two districts represented in the Lok Sabha by these two top Congress leaders,” Mayawati told mediapersons here Saturday evening.
“I have, therefore, made a formal request to the central government to clear a special package for revival of these units and a copy of the letter has also been sent to UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chairperson Sonia Gandhi,” she said.
To a query on how she was hopeful of a favourable decision when the central government had been sitting over her demand for Rs.800 billion package for the development of the backward regions, she said: “Well, now it is a question of the constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”
According to a state government survey, 11 of the 20 industrial units mostly set up during different Congress regimes were lying abandoned in Rae Bareli, while seven of the 19 units were shut in Sultanpur.
“The closure had rendered as many as 3,372 people unemployed in Rae Bareli and 2,722 in Sultanpur,” claims the survey report.