Oust Maya, bring Cong; will transform UP in 10 yrs: Rahul

While giving a call to oust the Bahujan Samaj Party government from Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday urged the people to bring the Congress to power in order to see a transformed state.

"I promise you that if you bring the Congress to power, Uttar Pradesh will be completely transformed in 10 years," Rahul told a party workers' rally in Siddharth Nagar, about 250 km from Lucknow.

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"Once the Congress rides to power, UP will be back on the path to development, which will become clearly visible in the first five years," he said.

Continuing his tirade against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and her government he said, "All the money sent by the central government for UP's development is eaten up by the 'elephant'. And the only way that can be stopped is by ousting the elephant and replacing it with the Congress."

Rahul on Friday embarked on the fourth day of his tour of five eastern UP districts, where he has vowed to infuse some life into the Congress that has remained dormant in that state for over two decades. After ruling the state for 40 years, the Congress was thrown out of power in 1989. Following this defeat, the party has struggled to survive in the state.

Taking strong exception to his remarks, BSP state spokesman Swami Prasad Maurya hit back at the Congress general secretary, accusing him of "attempting to mislead the people of the state with his lies."

Contradicting Rahul's charge of "misgovernance", Maurya said in a statement issued in Lucknow on Thursday, "I would like to ask the Congress yuvraj to explain what his party did to develop UP in the 40 years that it ruled the state."

Flaying Rahul for making sweeping remarks against the BSP and its leadership, he said, "It's high time Rahul introspected on what his party has done to rid the state of poverty and unemployment."

Maurya also sought to dismiss Rahul's remarks as "reflection of his poor knowledge and insight about the struggle and history of the BSP."

Drawing a comparison between the BSP and the Congress, he said, "While Rahul was a product of dynastic rule, BSP founder Kanshi Ram and his lieutenant Mayawati had struggled for years to build the party from a scratch."