Priyanka in Amethi, slams Mayawati govt

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday attacked the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government and said that the public money is for the benefit of the people of the state and not for party leaders.

"Government money is not for specific party leaders, they are for the people of the state," Gandhi said while addressing a rally in Amethi region in the north Indian state.

"Corruption has increased...after 22 years an oppurtunity has come when Congress has become capable of forming a government in your state," she said.

Gandhi said that Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a politics that has ´insulted´ the people of the north Indian state.

Attacking Mayawati, she said that ´thousands of crores´ have been spent by the government to build parks in the state.

Gandhi has been campaigning for Congress for the past couple of weeks in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.

Around 62 percent of the total 1.7 crore voters cast their ballots in the first phase of polling in India's most populous and politically vital state Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

Voters in 55 constituencies in 10 districts decided the fate of two ministers, 31 MLAs and 15 former ministers. There were 862 candidates in the fight.

In the second phase of polls, the total number of voters is nearly 1.95 crore. There are 1098 candidates, including 76 females, in the fray for 59 seats.

While Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and Samajwadi Party have all fielded 59 candidates in these 59 constituencies, the BJP has 55. Nationalist Congress Party has 20 candidates.

A total of 20426 polling stations have been set up.

UP is going to polls on Feb 8, Feb 11, Feb 15, Feb 19, Feb 23, Feb 28 and March 3.

Counting of votes is on March 6 along with all four other states that are going to elections.