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“Words unfortunate, anger justified”

Special Correspondent

Mayawati’s priority may be statues, but Congress’ priority is the poor: Rahul

— Photo: Sanjay Sonkar

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi interacts with the people of Amethi on Friday. They were allegedly assaulted by the police recently when protesting against lack of electricity in the constituency.

LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday virtually gave a clean chit to Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Rita Bahuguna Joshi. He said that though her choice of words might have been unfortunate her anger was justified. “The State government is not working,” the Amethi MP said.

Asked whether action would be taken against Ms. Joshi for her derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati, Mr. Gandhi said it was for the Congress president to decide.

Mr. Gandhi emphasised that there was no such thing as the Dalit agenda, for the Congress it was the agenda for the poor. “The Chief Minister’s priority may be statues. For the Congress, the priority is poor,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters at Jagdishpur after ending a daylong thanksgiving visit to his constituency.

Accusing the Mayawati government of misusing Central funds, he said the funds were being wasted and the development process had come to a standstill. The Congress would fight for the uplift of the poor and a beginning in this regard was made from Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Power crisis

At a meeting at Munshiganj, Mr. Gandhi referred to the power crisis in the area. He said that to overcome the problem it was necessary to have a Congress government in the State after three years. Under the Union government’s Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme, poles could be erected and wires laid in villages but power could be supplied only by the State government. He regretted that power had remained a problem area in the State for the last 20 years.

Mr. Gandhi said though there was place for statues and elephants (the BSP symbol), there was no space for development and generation of electricity.

He charged the State government with not cooperating in the development of his constituency. He said the Hindustan Paper Mills project, which could generate employment for about 10,000 people, was held up as were five other projects.

Mr. Gandhi also visited the houses of those who were injured in a lathicharge in Amethi a few days ago. He also met students of Citizen School in Salon.

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