You just can’t stop me: Sonia tells Maya

LALGANJ/RAE BARELI: Adopting an aggressive stance against the Mayawati regime, which tried to scuttle the rail coach factory project and then her scheduled program in Rae Bareli, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she cannot be stopped from coming to her constituency and is prepared to go to jail for the cause of development.

She said that Rae Bareli happens to be the ���karam bhoomi��� of the Gandhis and asked, ���can I be stopped from coming home and moving in the area?��� Sonia Gandhi who is locked in a bitter political tussle with chief minister Mayawati said that she would not speak about the rail coach factory, as the matter was sub-judice. Hitting straight at the Mayawati regime she pointed out that the Centre had sanctioned eight projects for the development of Rae Bareli but the state government was putting hurdles.

Speaking to the media here she said that the party would protest the move by the Mayawati regime to scuttle developments project in the area and said ���I will also go to jail for the cause of ushering in development���.
The Mayawati government had on October 12 cancelled the land allotment for the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli, represented by Sonia Gandhi, just two days before the Congress president was supposed to perform ���bhoomi pujan ceremony��� for the project and address a public meeting on Tuesday.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday granted relief to the railways vesting the possession of the land with it but the Mayawati regime again tried to thwart the visit of Sonia Gandhi by citing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC and denied permission for holding the public meeting of Sonia Gandhi.

However, Sonia Gandhi who arrived at the Fursatganj airport travelled through villages and briefly spoke to the people. On her way back, Sonia Gandhi even visited the area were the ���bhoomi pujan��� for the rail coach factory was to have been held and met people there.

The administration however kept up the pressure with heavy police presence in view of escalating tension between the two political parties. The administration also lodged FIRs under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, against two local Congress MLAs, Ashok Singh and Shiv Ganesh Lodhi, and several of their supporters. Congress workers had on Monday, vandalised the BSP office protesting against the Mayawati regime for trying to stop the rail coach factory project.