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Alliances have hit us hard in U.P.: Gehlot

Special Correspondent

Endeavour to bring the Congress family together, says the party's new in charge of the State

JAIPUR: Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot has held the partnerships the party had in the past with other political parties in Uttar Pradesh responsible for the poor condition of the Congress in that State. "Alliances, especially the ones in which the Congress played the role of the junior partner, caused maximum damage," Mr. Gehlot, who has been made in charge of Uttar Pradesh, said.

"It has been 15 years of wilderness for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh," Mr. Gehlot, who was on his first visit to the Rajasthan Capital after the party leadership bestowing on him the new assignment, said talking to a group of media persons here on Sunday. "During the period many permutations and combinations were tried out and all proved futile. The Congress should have never entered into any partnership. It should have had tried to stand on its own," Mr. Gehlot, who is scheduled to visit Lucknow on January 15, said.

"The alliances, especially with the Bahujan Samaj Party did the maximum damage. It upset the Congress party's support base. The morale of the workers went down," Mr. Gehlot, who had been always against the Congress aligning with other political parties in Rajasthan as well, said.

"My efforts would be to bring back the lost glory to the Congress in U.P. The people still look up to the Congress as a reliable political party. I am confident that its glorious past, the sacrifices made by its leaders and the leadership of the party president, Sonia Gandhi would help Congress to return to power in U.P. one day," Mr. Gehlot said. "My attempt will be to bring together the Congress family. I am making an appeal to all Congressmen to return to the party. We want to take all 36 communities with us," he said.

"It is going to be a big challenge," Mr. Gehlot said conceding that the party presently stood at a poor fourth in U.P. "We will keep away from both caste and religion and try to strengthen the social fabric presently torn into pieces due to the reckless politics. "Ram Mandir issue is no more. The Bharatiya Janata Party too has taken the stand that the court would decide on the disputed site. As for caste politics is concerned the political parties are to blame for the present situation. The politics of caste in U.P. and Bihar has weakened the communities involved as well as the whole country," he said.

Talking about Rajasthan Mr. Gehlot said the State Government failed to perform in the past two years, despite the "wholehearted support" from the Centre. The drought situation was grim in various parts. The drought affected people in Banswara and Dungarpur district had started migrating to other States in large numbers. The State Government's announcement of employment to 1.25 lakh persons under drought relief was a cruel joke on the people, he charged.

`Attention catching gimmick'

Congress General Secretary Ashok Mr. Gehlot on Sunday denounced the charges of telephone tapping levelled by the Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh against the Congress president Sonia Gandhi as an "attention catching gimmick". "There are some people who always want to be in the headlines. They can go to any level to accomplish this," Mr. Gehlot said. "The utterances speak volumes about their personality," Mr. Gehlot said referring to the comments from Amar Singh and the U.P. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Ms. Gandhi. "Levelling such allegations against a leader of Ms. Gandhi's stature and reputation is an act of desperation on their part," he charged. "The Congress leadership can never stoop to their levels," he said. Mr. Gehlot said the people of Uttar Pradesh disliked both Mr. Yadav and Mr. Singh. "As such both should be suffering from certain guilt feeling to make such observations," he noted. Mr. Gehlot also challenged the stand of Mr. Singh that he was free to do things the way he wanted in private life. "Public figures do no have personal life. They are public property. They have to remain transparent and accountable to the people," he asserted.

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