By Asit Srivastava, IANS,
Varanasi: Giving a call to uproot the Mayawati regime in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said here Wednesday that the plight of the poor and downtrodden in the state was enough reason for her government to go.
Blasting the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government for defending the police action against the agitating farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul in Greater Noida, Gandhi served notice that the Congress battle he had launched for the farmers would be taken to every village in the state.
“The flame we lit in Bhatta-Parsaul will be carried to every village of the state. We will show the UP government what the Congress is capable of doing for the good of the poor and the downtrodden,” Gandhi told a convention of party functionaries here.
Refuting the state government’s repeated claims about restoration of normal life in the violence-hit village where a farmer-police clash left four people dead earlier this month, Gandhi said: “The state government is claiming that everything is normal in the village, but the prohibitory orders under section 144 are still in place.”
He also sought to know “why the government was shying away from ordering a judicial probe if it really believed in its own much emphasised claim that all was fine in Bhatta-Parsaul.
“Why is the village still deserted as locals fled the place because of police atrocities,” asked Gandhi, who inaugurated the convention.
Gandhi also said that a local sub-divisional magistrate conveniently attributed the prevailing panic among the locals to infiltration by some Maoist groups in and around the village.
Dispelling rumours about a possible pre-election alliance with the Samajwadi Party, Gandhi said that the Congress would once again go it alone in the 2012 state assembly elections.
“All kinds of speculation was there during the last Lok Sabha elections about our alliance with the Samajwadi Party that had offered us 10 of the 80 seats. But we chose to not only fight it out alone, but also make our mark,” he pointed out.
Accusing Chief Minister Mayawati of not making serious efforts for an all-round development of the state, particularly the Bundelkhand region, Gandhi said: “Our party’s struggle is not merely confined to winning the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh… It is for the future of Uttar Pradesh that plays an important role in the development of the country.”
“I am prepared to go all over the state and also have plenty of time at hand to do so”, he told the gathering amidst cheers.
A group of farmers from Varanasi also met Gandhi to register their protest against their land acquisition for various projects.
Earlier, with eyes set on the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Congress party began its two-day convention amid belligerent statements by party leaders blasting Mayawati for “institutionalising corruption” in the state.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said Mayawati had set new records in corruption.
He alleged that Mayawati had “institutionalised corruption” and was ignoring the rights of the poor.
“For vested interests, the state government is allotting land to some industrialists only. On the other hand, she is not making any provision for the rehabilitation of the poor,” he said.
Singh called upon the partymen to shun groupism and work together to strengthen the party.
Union Minister for Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed, referring to the life imprisonment awarded to two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders in separate murder cases, said life imprisonment should be awarded to the BSP government “that would be dethroned in the upcoming assembly elections”.
The Congress central leadership, including party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi, will set the party’s agenda for the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections during this convention.
Sonia Gandhi will address the valedictory session Thursday, and will also speak at a public rally at the Beniyabagh ground.