Gloves off in the battle for UP

NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW: If the Congress party’s harsh criticism on Monday of the Mayawati government’s cancellation of land to Sonia Gandhi’s pet railways project in Rae Bareli is any indication, the gloves are off in the battle for the hearts and minds of the voters of UP.

Taking its cue from the state unit’s reaction when the news broke on Sunday, a spokesman for the Congress high command slammed the UP government on Monday as “anti-people and anti-development”. Congress spokesman Abhishekh Singhvi also suggested nastily that Mayawati seemed only interested in acquiring land to put up statues of herself and Kanshi Ram.

The project got a reprieve on Monday with the Allahabad high court staying the UP government order. But confusion persists on whether the planned ‘bhoomipujan’ that Gandhi was to attend on Tuesday will take place. A source in the Congress indicated that the party is in two minds about it now that the matter has become the subject of a court case.

However, Gandhi will go ahead with her Rae Bareli visit and address a public meeting as scheduled. She is expected to take Mayawati head on for the first time in her speech at the rally. So far, Sonia Gandhi herself has refrained from attacking Mayawati directly and left it to son Rahul to battle the Dalit czarina.

The anti-Mayawati lobby in the Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders, particularly Amar Singh, are waiting in eager anticipation for her speech to judge for themselves how far she will go in criticising Mayawati. Her stand is important for the ongoing Congress-SP seat sharing talks, which are currently in doldrums.

Slamming the UP government’s decision, Singhvi said that the derailed coach factory project would have given employment to 10,000 persons in Rae Bareli. He said the project was announced two years ago in the 2006-07 annual budget and indents for the acquisition of 1,230 acres of land were made in July, August and October 2007.

He pointed out there were no protests then. “Till date, we don’t know who is objecting and why,” he said. There was also a mild threat to the state government in his remark that such arbitrary decisions would upset the federal structure of the country on the question of sharing of resources. “Almost 45% of the funds the central government receives is ploughed back to the states. What would happen if the central government starts meting out stepmotherly treatment to state governments,” he asked.

An advocate representing the railways ministry, Arif Khan, told reporters in Lucknow that the court sympathised with the argument that the order was arbitrary. “The state government’s action is entirely illegal, one-sided and politically motivated,” he said.

Meanwhile, agitationists protesting against the state government’s order burnt Mayawati’s effigies in Rae Bareli.

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