Govt in UP will help solve obstacles in the Centre: Khurshid

Amid strains with some of its allies, Congress sees a chance in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls not just to form the government in the state but also to stabilise the UPA at the Centre. “We are working with the aim to form the government in Uttar Pradesh so that we are able not only to bring about a change in the state but even find a solution from this very election to the obstacles that we face sometimes at the Centre,” Union Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters. With half of the term of UPA II already over, the minister emphasized the need for strengthening the hands of the central government saying it has to complete all its programmes and implement fast the far reaching decisions taken by it in the remaining time it has. [caption id=“attachment_179144” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PTI”]  [/caption] Claiming that a “wind of change” is sweeping UP and a “comprehensive change” would be visible after the polls, Khurshid said Rahul Gandhi has totally dedicated himself to the elections in the state. The minister parried a question on whether any internal survey of the party has pointed to the possibility of the Congress-SP-RLD combine being in a position after the polls in UP to form the government but claimed the party was “moving very fast” towards forming its own government in the state. “I am not privy to any survey but my understanding is that we are moving very fast towards making our government in UP. Those who are in the government now are going fast in retreat and the stage is being vacated largely. “I believe because of their own wrongdoings and Rahul Gandhi’s aggressive campaign, we are occupying very fast the space they are vacating,” he said. Congress has recently been facing heat from its allies with Trinamool Congress daring the party to walk out of the alliance in West Bengal and NCP giving it an ultimatum over sharing of seats for the Mumbai civic polls. Khurshid also welcomed Team Anna’s decision not to campaign against any political party but against the issue of corruption in the five poll-bound states. He said there was never any difference between Anna Hazare and the government on the need to fight corruption but only on the methodology to do it. “Anna himself had never said he would himself campaign against any party. But it was being thought out that he along with his friends would perhaps campaign against Congress. But this decision was never taken by him. Now after discussions, they have decided that they would campaign against corruption, which we welcome,” Khurshid said. He said even the government was campaigning against corruption and fighting hard to root it out. “There was no question of any distance between us and Anna on the issue of fighting corruption. The issue was only about the form of the institution to fight it on which there were differences between us during the discussions and even now,” he said calling for comprehensive social change to finish the menace. PTI