Piyush Srivastava Posted online: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 at 1356 hours IST Updated: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 at 1533 hours IST
Kanpur, August 9: Virtually launching her party campaign for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked her party rank and file to get ready for a 'do or die' battle to remove the Mulayam Singh government.
Speaking at a well-attended Nav Nirman rally in Kanpur, Sonia accused the Mulayam government of corruption, saying funds provided to the state by the UPA government were being siphoned off.
Drawing a parallel with the Quit India movement, she kickstarted her party’s campaign, saying, “The state government must give way to the Congress party. This has to happen in UP now. Yahi rajniti ka dharm hoga.”
Praising the UPA government for its “excellent work” and lamenting the “fall of socialism in UP”, she said: “I am proud of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s sincere efforts to improve the quality of life of the youth and the poor, for the fast pace of growth of the country. Unfortunately, UP’s lagging behind because of power-hungry politicians”.
“We have given maximum funds to the state government. No other Central government had ever given so much money to the state. So you must ask the state government where is its socialism and where has all the money gone. We know well that a few leaders in the state government are filling their own coffers,” she said.
She criticised the Samajwadi Party government for turning down what she said was a Central proposal to reduce taxes on petrol and diesel. “A government doesn’t belong to a party or an individual. But unfortunately, the politics in UP has centred on the self. The aim of UP leaders is Apni jeben khoob bharo. Agar kuch bach jaye to chand aur ki bharo,” she said.
Turning towards Rahul Gandhi, she said, “The movement against the state government will be taken forward by the youth only because they have the fire we expect at this juncture.”
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi said, “I have great faith in the youth of the state because only they can help us in removing the state government.” Unemployment in UP, he said, was increasing, power generation was taking a turn for the worse and industries were leaving the state. Since Assembly elections were approaching, the state government was trying to woo the youth by giving them an unemployment allowance, he said.
“The state government is feeling insecure because it knows your power. Tell the government that you need jobs, not an allowance,” he said.
Kanpur, August 9: Virtually launching her party campaign for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked her party rank and file to get ready for a 'do or die' battle to remove the Mulayam Singh government.
