Mayawati steals from the poor to feed the rich: Rahul

On the second day of his five-day tour of Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi launched a full frontal attack on Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav, clearly focussing on the disconnect between them and the people of the state. Addressing a gathering at Bahraich, in the state, he said, “Mayawati & Mulayam were mass leaders who were once grounded in reality and injustice against the poor angered them. Now they live in ACs, disconnected from reality.” On corruption Rahul spoke at length about the schemes initiated by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and how it has benefited the poor  across the country. “MNREGA is the biggest employment programme in the world; lakhs benefited across the country. It’s is a right, but Mayawati has been consistently campaigning against it, while embezzling the money sent by the Centre.” [caption id=“attachment_138122” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Rahul accused the Mayawati government of stealing from the poor. PTI”]  [/caption] He reiterated that money sent for the poor was being consistently being siphoned off by the government. “Money sent by the Centre, for health schemes and prenatal women never reached the targeted beneficiaries,” he said, “The UP government takes money from builders and gives them your land”. Land grab Alleging state sponsored brutalities in Bhatta Parsaul, he accused both the BSP and the SP of thwarting development for personal benefits. Rahul accused successive governments in the state of forcibly taking away land from the poor. “Uttar Pradesh governement takes land away from the poor and hands it to the rich, and calls it development,” he said. Stressing on the Congress’s commitment to the aam aadmi he said, “While people were killed and beaten up at Bhatta Parsaul, no political party except the Congress came forward to sympathise with the affected and offer comfort.” On development Speaking on development Rahul stressed that the state lacked basic infrastructure in terms of roads, health care and electricity. He said that the state will attract industry only if the basics were in place. “The rest of India is progressing while Uttar Pradesh is sliding backward. This makes me angry,” he told the crowd. Claiming that he visited a hospital where there no patients but a painting job was on due to her visit, he said the painters told him that they were doing it as the Chief Minister was visiting the hospital. “There were no patients, no nurses, no doctors. But painting was on because the administration wanted to show her the hospital in good condition when she passes through the area. She does not know what is happening. She does not come to your house. She does not eat with you,” he said. He will next visit Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar and Kushinagar and meet party workers as well.