Thaindian News

Lucknow, Nov 26 (IANS) Pointedly blaming Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s nod to foreign equity in retail, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati asserted Saturday that she would steadfastly oppose the measure.

“The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will launch a strong movement against the policy in case the UPA government manages to get the approval of the national parliament,” she declared at a press conference here.

“The union government’s decision to allow FDI in retail in India was clearly prompted by Rahul, who is simply interested in extending certain benefits to his foreigner friends through this new policy,” alleged Mayawati.

Referring to Gandhi as “yuvraj” (prince), she said: “Since this yuvraj has spent the larger part of his life in foreign lands, where he also has a large number of friends, he has found FDI in retail as one way of extending favours to them.”

“People in the Congress-led UPA government cannot afford to displease Rahul’s friends who are looking forward to reap a huge harvest out of this FDI move,” she alleged.

Maywayati went on to call the move “part of the gimmicks” that the Congress leader was playing in the run-up to the 2012 state assembly elections, though his “real intention is to hand over this state into the hands of giant companies owned by his foreigner friends”.

Demanding “immediate withdrawal” of the policy, Mayawati warned that if the UPA dared to go ahead with this policy, the BSP would be “compelled to take certain extreme steps”.

Attacking Rahul Gandhi, she said: “The Congress prince spends a brief while in India and then buzzes off on foreign jaunts. However, whenever he comes down to UP (Uttar Pradesh), he brings along with him some of his foreigner friends, who are also taken around to the homes of common people, whose poverty they make fun of.”