By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress Wednesday said that the power walk of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh had created panic among its opponents.
It also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of misusing the government land for personal and pecuniary gains.
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said that while Gandhi was fighting for the rights of farmers in dusty trails, BSP and BJP governments in states were misusing their office.
“Rahul Gandhi’s yatra (march) has perpetuated panic in opposition ranks. It is but natural that the Bahujan Samaj Party will lose its balance but intriguing are reactions emanating from BJP. Rather than giving unsolicited advice on matters related to land, it is better if they stop the Karnataka chief minister from operating like land mafia,” Tewari said.
Hitting out at Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa of teh BJP, Tewari said: “If alloting land in Bangalore to immediate family was not bad enough, now he has rolled out discretionary plots to relatives and friends. Plots worth crores have been given literally for peanuts.”
Tewari said that 1,25,000 people had applied for the plots and “only people who caught chief minister’s attention were his relatives and friends.”
The Congress leader said that a former civil servant of Karnataka who had been tasked to find out how illegally occupied state land could be retrieved, had said that chief minister’s office was protecting encroachers.
Replying to a query about a media report that Gandhi may be projected as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Tewari said he had no comments to make on such a report, and added that Gandhi had a pan-India image.
Rahul Gandhi Tuesday embarked on an unannounced march from Bhatta-Parsaul villages in Greater Noida to listen to grievances of farmers on land acquisition. The march is slated to end in Aligarh, where Congress has planned a kisan mahapanchayat (farmers’ rally) Saturday.