Rahul Gandhi accuses Mayawati over land acquisition stir

Meerut: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of being numb during land acquisition stir in Bhatta Parsaul village in the state's Bulandshahr District.

"The money in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is not the government's, but for the poor, the farmers and the labourers. You already know what happened in Bhatta Parsaul. Then this opposition did not say a word. Farmers were fired upon, their lands were forcefully grabbed. None of these leaders went there," Gandhi told a gathering here.

"The land was sold off to builders. We went there. We saw it with our own eyes, that people were killed in cold blood. Being the chief minister, Mayawati should have gone there, but she did not pay the area a single visit," he added.

According to media reports, farmers were paid a little over 800 rupees per square metre for the land on which six townships are to be built along the highway. That same land was sold to developers for 3,200 rupees a square metre and resold as residential plots for 14,000 rupees a square metre.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh said all governments that had administered the state in the last 20 years had looted it and done no development work.

"You people change the government every five years. But in the last two decades, whichever government has come into power; whichever chief minister has sat on the chair, overdid the previous governments when it came to corruption. No one talked about development. Today, the whole state is suffering because of this Mayawati Government," claimed Singh.

Polls in Uttar Pradesh are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

Polls in Uttar Pradesh will be conducted between February 8th and March 3rd, and counting will take place on March 6th.

A new 403-member state assembly will be established in March. The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections.