Hours after Congress president Sonia Gandhi took a swipe at the Bahujan Samaj Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh, state Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday night blamed the United Progressive Alliance government, saying it was not serious about the development of the poverty stricken areas in the Hindi heartland.
Reacting sharply to the political and economic resolutions passed in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee convention at Kanpur, she said the Centre has not taken any decision regarding the Rs 80,000 crore package demanded for removal of economic backwardness of the Purvanchal and Bundelkhand areas of the state.
"It shows how Congress was serious regarding the problems of the state," she said.
Terming the comments of the Congress leaders at the convention as "baseless" and "misleading", she said this indicated the party's frustration.
Speaking on Rahul Gandhi's Bundelkhand visit being linked with the BSP rally in Jhansi, she said in a statement that she was forced to hold a rally in Jhansi because the opposition parties, especially the Congress, had indulged in rumour mongering regarding the relief and development works being carried out in the Bundelkhand area by her government.
"The rally was organised in Jhansi to let people know about the relief works being carried out in the drough-hit areas and also about the ongoing development programmes," she said.
Sonia, had earlier in the day implored party workers in Uttar Pradesh to be ready to go to jail to make the Mayawati government accountable and said, if need be, Rahul will join them in an attempt to revive the Congress in the politically crucial state.
Mayawati said her government had established the rule of law abolishing the "jungleraaj" and that full transparency has been restored in the government and the administration.
She said despite continuous demand being made by the state government to institute a CBI inquiry into the large-scale scams committed by the Congress, the Centre was refusing it.
She said all sections of society were fully safe under her government and there was no discrimination or injustice against anyone in the state.
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