BSP, Cong rift widens

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has taken severe exception to the criticism of her government by AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Kanpur on Monday.

“Their statements reflect the gloom and disappointment in the Congress,” Mayawati said in a statement released to the press. “The statements are totally baseless and misleading. The Congress is trying to spread confusion among the people of UP with vested interests,” she stated.

Referring to Rahul’s comments on the recent BSP rally in Jhansi, the hub of drought-hit Bundelkhand, she said: “The region had been going through drought and famine for several years but the Congress-led regime at the Centre never did anything to provide relief. I organised the rally to tell the people this reality and to educate them about development and relief schemes being run by my government.”

Mayawati also slammed the Centre’s “step-motherly” treatment to UP. “We have been asking for special packages for the development of Purvanchal (east UP) and Bundelkhand. But the Centre has given us nothing.”