Rahul promises reservations to woo Muslims in UP

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday assured the 20 crore-odd members of the Muslim community in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh that a new reservation policy would soon be in place for them.

"We will keep our commitment of providing reservation to minorities in the state," Rahul told a gathering of party office-bearers at the UP Congress headquarters in Lucknow on Saturday evening.

"We will do it soon," he declared amidst applause.

Rahul is on a two-day visit to Lucknow to interact with party functionaries as well as candidates handpicked for the forthcoming assembly polls.

Terming the poll as a big challenge for the party, the Gandhi scion emphasised on his own role in getting the Congress to the centre-stage of politics in a state where it got lost in oblivion after ruling for four decades.

"You must understand that the Congress is getting back to the main arena of elections in the state after a gap of nearly two decades. We were virtually out of the political battleground between 1991 and 2007, after which we got down to re-building the party from scratch," he said, in an obvious reminder about his active involvement in UP's political affairs in 2007.

Exuding confidence that the party could do wonders in the assembly polls next year, Rahul
called upon party members to work hard in order to achieve their objective.

"If you all take a vow and have the determination to win the forthcoming elections in UP, I am sure nothing can stop you from attaining your goal," he said, adding, "but you must get down to business right away."

Rahul also took the opportunity to issue a warning to those responsible for the prevailing infighting within the party.

"We must fight the election unitedly", he stressed, adding, "let it be very clear that action would be taken against those who fail to work together --- no matter how high and mighty the person be, he will not be spared."

Describing Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party as the potential opponents, and dismissing Bhartiya Janta Party as a 'spent force', he sought to point out, "Successive governments of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were largely responsible for the rampant corruption and crime in the state, so we have go all out to fight them".

He was confident that the Congress would spring another surprise as it had done during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when, contrary to popular perception, the Congress had bagged as many as 22 of the state's 80 seats.

Flaying the opposition for opposing FDI in retail, he said, "We wanted to bring in FDI as a solution to the unabated price rise. But the entire opposition -- BSP, BJP and SP -- joined hands to stall the move."