Congress protests bridge inauguration by UP minister in Rae Bareli

Protesting the proposed inauguration of a bridge in Congress president Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh by a state minister, the party legislators today met governor B L Joshi here and demanded cancellation of the programme.

A delegation of Congress MLAs and MLCs from Rae Bareli met the governor at the Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum
in this regard.

The Congress legislators said it was due to Gandhi's effort that the bridge was constructed on river Ganga river at Dalmau in Rae Bareli.

"The bridge was constructed under Central Road Fund by Union ministry of surface transport," the memorandum said. 

The chief engineer of the ministry on February 17 had informed the ruling BSP that the UPA chairperson would inaugurate the bridge in the second week of March, date of which would be informed by Gandhi's local office, the legislators said.

"Even as Gandhi's programme was fixed on March 9, the BSP government decided to get the bridge inaugurated by cabinet minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui...the party would launch an agitation if the programme is not cancelled," Congress MLA
from Harchandpur Shivganesh Lodhi told reporters.

Party MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh said the Governor has assured them that he would take up the issue with the Mayawati government.