Mayawati Govt siphoned off central funds: Rahul Gandhi

CHANDAULI: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today accused Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh of siphoning off central funds sent for development.

"The Centre has released a lot of money for various developmental projects for Uttar Pradesh but it got stuck in Lucknow and never reached the needy," Rahul alleged at an election rally here in support of the congress candidate Shailendra Singh.

"The funds are given by the Centre but they exhaust in Lucknow", he alleged.

Rahul alleged Mayawati government was not only anti-development but also anti-Dalit. "It is led by a Dalit leader but in the last two years it could not do anything for Dalits and the downtrodden", Rahul said adding "the Mayawati government claims to be pro-Dalit and pro-poor but its only aim is to earn money."

Rahul said Uttar Pradesh "used to be the best in the country two decades ago but BJP, BSP and Samajwadi Party have done nothing for the development of the state in the past 20 years".

He said if Congress was voted back to power at the Centre and in UP three years later, it will again make the state a role model of development in the country.