Expose UP Govt.'s misrule, Sonia tells partymen

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, OCT. 15. The Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, today exhorted her partymen to go to every house in Uttar Pradesh to expose the ``misrule'' of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government in the State. The coming elections to the Assembly signified a fight for a change and the Congress could not be ignored.

Addressing a rally here at the conclusion of the Congress ``Parivartan Yatra'' - that looked more like the launch of her election campaign - Ms. Gandhi outlined the weaknesses of the present Government and extolled the ideological strength of the Congress.

While the people were suffering from shortage of power and water supply, those in power were engaged in playing politics of religion, she said. Uttar Pradesh had paid a heavy price for having handed over power to the BJP and other political forces. It was necessary to introspect how, and under what circumstances, the ``mistake'' had been committed. The direction should change from a race to grab power to a desire to serve the masses.

Ethically, elections should be held within this month, Ms. Gandhi said, adding that making big promises and changing faces in the Government were not enough to send the right kind of message to the people who had given the BJP-led coalition a chance to serve them. The Government had ended up exploiting the people.

Coming down heavily on the BJP leaders for saying that no progress had been made in the country in the past 50 years, she said these were the people who had made power an ``instrument of loot and deceit.'' Even the Ganges would refuse to clean what they had done.

``Where were you when the Congress was waging the struggle for India's freedom? Where were you when Nehru was laying the foundation of the new India,'' she asked.

Hers was a party that stuck to its ideology. The Congress had never compromised with communalism. But, the BJP and the other parties had made all attempts to exploit communal and caste factors.

The Congress was for giving opportunities to the members of the backward castes and the Dalits. But backward Muslims and the economically-backward among the upper castes should also be looked after, she said.

Employment opportunities in the State were on the decline, prices were rising and crime and corruption were constantly on the increase. Even the Centre had not remained immune to corruption as was evident from the UTI scam, the Tehelka expose and the Telecom scam.

'Fernandes induction shameful'

Referring to the induction of Mr. George Fernandes as the Defence Minister, Ms. Gandhi said the fact that a person who had resigned amid allegations of corruption was again being given the responsibility of national security was regrettable. Such light treatment of security was ``shameful.''

The world was at the crossroads as far as terrorism was concerned. Violence was no solution to any problem and innocent people should not be targeted. And terrorism should not be linked with religion.

Others who spoke on the occasion included the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, the Congress general secretary, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azab, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. D. Tiwari, the State Congress president, Mr. Sri Prakash Jaiswal, and the State Legislature Party leader, Mr. Pramod Tiwari.

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