Ghaziabad, Delhi worlds apart. Why, asks Rahul

It was Chandrabhaan’s moment, but for his profession. “Yahaan toh sirf loot hai, kaam kaise hoga? (There is corruption here. How will we work?), said he, interrupting Gandhi’s speech in Muradnagar assembly seat in Ghaziabad district on Thursday. The crowd of 5,000 suddenly got a face in Chandrabhaan. And Rahul Gandhi almost got his next hero. “Chandrabhaan ji, you are contributing to the nation’s progress. What do you do?” asked the Congress scion with a spark in his eyes. “I work in a liquor firm,” Chadrabhaan roared, raising his left hand. The crowd burst into laughter. Rahul Gandhi’s formula of making heroes of common man had backfired. After sporting a fake smile, Gandhi was back to the speech. It was his fourth public meeting in the day and his first in Ghaziabad during the current Uttar Pradesh assembly election. Gandhi was dressed in his signature white kurta-pyjama and sports shoes. At 3.29pm, three choppers landed at the ground of a government school in Ghaziabad’s Muradnagar area. Gandhi was accompanied by Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, Rajeev Shukla, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary. [caption id=“attachment_223326” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The penultimate charge. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost”] [/caption] During last assembly election, Ghaziabad district had five assembly seats. Bahujan Samaj Party got two seats. One seat went to Samajwadi Party and Bhartiya Janata Party each. In his 15-minute speech, Gandhi touched upon Congress’s flagship schemes including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA), Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Right to Food Security. “People of Bundelkhand are in trouble for seven years now. Farmers are committing suicide. Mulayam Singh and Mayawati never got time to visit Bundelkhand. Now when the elections are round the corner, they visited the region and assured that things would be fine. They think that people are fools to buy such promises,” said Gandhi. Giving the example of Ghaziabad district’s neighbouring states Delhi and Haryana, Gandhi said both the states were flourishing because of Congress’s rule. “There is much visible difference between Ghaziabad and Delhi. But the biggest difference is that the governments in those states have clean intention,” said Gandhi. It is believed that this poll season, the Mayawati government is facing the heat of anti-incumbency. Gandhi tried cashing on this factor too. “Aaapko mazaa aaya? (Did you enjoy?),” asked Gandhi about previous and current regimes in the state. The money-eating elephant, Rahul Gandhi’s metaphor for describing BSP’s rule (party’s election symbol is elephant), also found a mention in this speech. “The magical elephant…” Rahul paused for two seconds. “…eats your money.” “You work during the day. Elephant eats your money at night,” said Gandhi. But will ‘hand’ stop the ’elephant’? That is the big question from Uttar Pradesh. Watch slideshow: [fpgallery id=373]

Ghaziabad, Delhi worlds apart. Why, asks Rahul

The Congress leader took a jibe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati saying that elephants eat away hard-earned money of the common man at night.

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