India Shining: Drama Queen Rahul Gandhi ready to go to jail; cunning plan to become future PM

Daily News: Forcing Indians to look in the mirror

Taking on Maya, Sonia says even Rahul ready for jail to revive party

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/290927.html

Sanjay Singh

April 01, 2008

KANPUR, MARCH 31
Launching a frontal attack on UP Chief Minister Mayawati a day after her party accused the BSP government of patronising corruption, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked partymen to be prepared to go to jail to revive the Congress in the state and ensure implementation of Centre-sponsored schemes. She said if needed her son Rahul Gandhi, MP from Amethi and AICC general secretary, would also go to jail.

Keeping the pressure on the Mayawati government, Gandhi asked party workers to use the Right to Information Act to seek a report card on welfare schemes sponsored by the Centre. "The UPA government is providing crores of rupees for implementation of these schemes. Proper use of these funds must be ensured," she told the party convention in Kanpur today.

Rahul Gandhi joined his mother in targeting the Mayawati government, saying Dalits in the state were feeling "cheated" as no one seemed to care for them. He narrated the story of a Dalit in Etawah who held his hand and took him to his house to show how he lived without power or basic amenities. Quoting that Dalit, he said "Indiraji aur Kanshi Ram hamare bare mein sochte the... hamare saath dhokha hua hai (Indira and Kanshi Ram used to think about us... we have been cheated)."

Rahul Gandhi then recalled how he met youths from UP while on a tour of Karnataka. "They were labourers. They told me the future of UP's youths is in Karnataka. UP does not provide education or means of employment," he said, telling Congressmen "dono kahaniyon ko ek saath badalna hai (we have to change both stories)."

But as she targeted Mayawati's government, Sonia Gandhi also pulled up her own partymen for contributing to the decline of the Congress in the state. "Sangathan ki kamjori ki wajah se hum sangathan se zyada apni chinta karne lage hain (since our organisational structure is weak, we have started worrying about ourselves and not the party)," she said.

Indirectly warning those behind factionalism in the Congress, she said: "Nao bachegi to sabhi bachenge (we will all live only if the boat stays afloat)." She slammed Congress leaders for faking membership figures and said this was another reason for the shrinking party base in the state. "The party has also been weakened by fake membership within the organisation. Rahul told me very clearly to make it public at the convention," she said.

She made it clear to party workers that she was not satisfied with the explanation that politics of caste and religion were behind the decline of Congress fortunes. "We have certainly committed errors," she said.

She asked party workers to go to villages, familiarise themselves with the problems on ground and spread the word on the "historical Budget". She said people have begun realising that Congress rule is any day better than that of non-Congress governments.

Later, addressing a public meeting at Kanpur's Nana Rao Park, she said progress in the state had come to a halt after formation of non-Congress governments. "All are part of the same boat. They (Congress rivals) have joined hands to grab power. Ganga gaye Ganga Das aur Jamuna gaye Jamuna
Das (they make their moves as and when it suits them)," she said.

Rahul Gandhi, who came up with the slogan "Congress ke dono haath, garibon ke saath", justified the Centre's decision to waive off loans of farmers. "Journalists ask me about the economic feasibility of the government's decision to waive off farmer loans. I have a counter question. Why is the aspect of economic feasibility not debated when it comes to waiving non-performing assets of big companies?" he said.