Thaindian News

Rae Bareli, Feb 14 (IANS) Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Tuesday made a joint appearance for the first time in the Uttar Pradesh election campaign and accused the Mayawati government of large scale corruption in implementation of central schemes.

Sonia Gandhi, who is the MP from here, attacked the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for “sorry state of affairs” in the state.

She said assistance of Rs.1 lakh crore under various central schemes had been given to the state but the results were nowhere to be seen.

“After all, where is that money? Where was it spent? It’s clear that scams and corruption have taken place,” she said.

Gandhi added that the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which ruled the state, apart from the BSP, over the past 22 years, had also failed to tackle problems of the people.

The Congress president accused the BSP government of creating obstacles in implementation of central schemes and said the central government never differentiated among states when it came to providing funds for development.

She said farmers were facing problems, youths were unemployed due to closure of factories, and children did not have adequate facilities for education.

Pointing to the BSP government’s earlier opposition to the central government’s plan to set up a rail coach factory at Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi wondered if people of Rae Bareli and Amethi had a right to get employment.

The Congress, she said, works for every section of the society.

“Congress … is struggling to bring back Uttar Pradesh on the road to development,” she said.

Priyanka Gandhi, speaking from the same platform, called for a Congress victory for a corruption-free Uttar Pradesh.

Rae Bareli goes to the polls Feb 19 in the fourth phase of balloting to the 403-member assembly.

Neighbouring Amethi Lok Sabha constituency is represented by Sonia’s son Rahul Gandhi.