Rahul Gandhi accuses Mayawati of ill governance

Ballia: Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of ill governance, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said that the former has failed to develop the state and would not be able to do so in the future.

Addressing a gathering here, Gandhi asked: "Have you ever seen Mayawati visiting any village in the state in the last five years? Has she ever sat with a family in the village and dined with them? She has never connected with the people in the state."

"Have you seen her drinking the same water that you intake in your village? How does she plan to develop the state without being connected with its people? She has developed magical elephant in Lucknow that eats public money," Gandhi said.

He also accused the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of keeping mum on the entire reservation issue.

"Have any previous chief ministers in the state spoken openly or done anything about reservation? When Mulayam Singh Yadav got to know that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is about to talk on reservation, he chose to remain silent. Even he did the same when mediapersons asked him to say on the same issue (reservation)," said Gandhi.

Gandhi further urged the people of the state to vote for change by casting their vote for the Congress party.

"We promise to change Uttar Pradesh. The people of state has wasted 22 years believing in other parties, this time we will change the face of the state and work for the benefit of its people at large I urge that give a chance to the youth in our party to work for your welfare," he said.

Uttar Pradesh will elect a new 403-member state assembly in March, and the poll results are expected to broadly indicate trends for 2014 general elections.