Mayawati mum on Gates visit, blames Congress for migration

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today refused to make any comment on recent visit of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates with Rahul Gandhi to rural areas of the state but blamed the Congress for neglecting people welfare during nearly four decades of its rule.

"I will not speak on the issue," Mayawati told reporters in reply to a question whether by bringing Gates, the Centre is trying to sell poverty in rural UP.

Mayawati asked the Congress to look at the records of its 38 long years when it was at the helm of affairs both in the state and Centre.

"They should see for themselves as to how people from Uttar Pradesh had migrated to developed cities like Mumbai and Delhi in search of jobs...The maximum migration from the state had taken place in these 38 years because the Congress government gave no importance to programmes for the welfare of the sarv samaj and problems of poverty and unemployment," the BSP supremo said.

The UP CM said migrants have faced "step-motherly" treatment by the Congress-led government in those state and claimed that under the BSP government, people were feeling "good and cheerful".