JOIN USThey also assured all help to the people of the region and sought to shift the blame for the area’s backwardness on the “non-cooperative” attitude of the Mayawati government.
“The UP government has not shown the required will to implement the centrally sponsored schemes formulated under special package for the development of Bundelkhand,” Manmohan Singh said while addressing a Congress rally at Banda, about 200 km from here.
Chief Minister Mayawati, however, was quick to reject the charges and instead alleged that the Centre did not release the promised funds.
Raining sops
Singh announced several sops for the region apparently keeping in mind the next Assembly polls, due in May next year, including a special Rs 200 crore project for drinking water, a central agriculture institute in Jhansi, seven central schools and upgradation of the Jhansi Medical College.
“The state government should rise above politics and help in fostering development of the region,” he said recalling the glorious past of the region and attributed its backwardness to the negligence of the successive non-Congress regimes.
The Prime Minister, who called Rahul as a “loved youth leader of the country”, said it was Rahul who inspired him to take interest in Bundelkhand.
Rahul also slammed the state government for what he alleged its failure to implement the Centre’s flagship scheme MNREGA in the region. “Needy are not getting job cards or work... farmers are not getting remunerative price of wheat... the poor, backwards and Dalits are not on the BPL list,” he alleged.
He said he turned his attention towards the region after a young boy from the area told him that his father died of hunger. “I felt ashamed and never told any one about it,” the young Congress leader said urging the Prime Minister to take necessary steps to alleviate suffering of the people if the state government failed to deliver.
Rahul lambasted the state government for ignoring the plight of the people. “Their plight fails to reach Lucknow but it does reach Delhi,” he said.
The impressive crowd under the scorching sun cheered the two leaders, whenever they spoke about the schemes for the region. Local Congress MLA Vivek Singh gave some dried wheat plants to the Prime Minister reflecting the situation in the parched region.
Rahul has been focussing on the Bundelkhand region for the past few years. The region has 23 Assembly seats and currently the Congress has only three MLAs from the region.