Rahul Gandhi slams opposition for blocking Lokpal Bill

LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that the Opposition prevented the Lokpal Bill from being passed in Parliament because it had his backing.

"The Opposition did not allow the Lokpal Bill, which gives constitutional status to the body, to be passed. When journalists questioned them, they said we defeated it because it was Rahul Gandhi's dream," the Gandhi scion said at a rally in the Muslim-dominated belt of Saharanpur. "It is not my dream alone, but that of the youth, and we will not rest till we bring in the Lokpal."

Gandhi, who is spearheading Congress' election campaign in the state, is hoping to win over Muslim voters who had been disillusioned with Samajwadi Party in 2009 after it joined hands with Hindutva poster boy Kalyan Singh, widely seen by Muslims as the architect of the Babri Masjid demolition.

Gandhi pointed out that his father, late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, too, had faced similar opposition when he brought the Panchayati Raj Bill to delegate power to the village heads. "Rajiv Gandhi's dream was the Panchayati Raj Bill. Did it not benefit you?" Gandhi said, eliciting cheers from the crowd.

Referring to the policies that the Congress has introduced, Rahul asked a youth near his podium whose policy it was that brought phones to villages.

"It was Rajiv Gandhi who paved the way for this. They had said even then that Rajiv Gandhi is not talking sense. He is talking about computers and phones in villages," the MP said.