By IANS,
Sidhauli (Uttar Pradesh): Flaying Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for corruption, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday said a “magical elephant” in the state was gobbling up central funds meant for the poor.
Addressing a rally here in Sitapur district on the third leg of his election campaign, Gandhi said the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) election symbol, the elephant, was devouring government funds.
“This ‘jaado ka haathi’ (magical elephant) is eating the central funds released for the benefit of poor people of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
He said the Congress-led central government had launched the ambitious Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to help the poor by releasing a massive sum of over Rs.60,000 crore.
Taking a dig at Mayawati’s statement that MGNERGS had failed to benefit the state, Gandhi said: “The chief minister is correct when she says that it has not benefited the poor because she swindled the major portion of the fund.”
Claiming that he alone had raised issues related to farmers of Uttar Pradesh in parliament, Gandhi said: “The chief minister has no time for their suffering and instead prefers to grab their land to help the rich and mighty.”
Referring to Mayawati’s helicopter rides, he said such exercises can never project the true picture of the state.
“Development here has come to a grinding halt,” he added.
Gandhi added that if the Congress was voted to power, he would change the condition of the state in the next 10 years.