Jupiter 29, 2016
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, 43, is a "well-meaning boy" said Rahul Gandhi, 46, in an endorsement that the Congress vice-president did not extend for Mr Yadav's government in the state.
Jupiter 29, 2016
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, 43, is a "well-meaning boy" said Rahul Gandhi, 46, in an endorsement that the Congress vice-president did not extend for Mr Yadav's government in the state.
Rahul Gandhi kicked off his party's campaign for assembly elections in UP from state capital Lucknow today, dressed in jeans and a kurta and strolling with a mic as he addressed party workers.
50,000 Congress workers were present at the UP poll campaign launched by Rahul Gandhi in Lucknow.
"Look at the young chief minister here. Akhilesh theek ladka hai (he is well-meaning boy) but his government isn't working," said Mr Gandhi whose party will take on Mr Yadav's Samajwadi Party, the BJP and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party in the mega election in UP, the result of which will be seen to indicate who could win the 2019 national election.
Mr. Gandhi's pep talk to party workers included criticism of not just the SP government but also the Mayawati dispensation that preceded it in UP.
"There are goondas in one government, corruption in the other. In one, goondas will arrive outside a factory, in the other you have to feed the BSP's elephant. The cycle doesn't run on electricity; how will it generate any?" he said referring to the election symbols of the two regional parties.
The Congress has roped in strategist Prashant Kishor for the UP elections and he has coined the slogan – "27 saal, UP behaal." Or for 27 years that the Congress has not been in power in UP, the state has suffered.
On Mr. Kishor's advice, the Congress is projecting former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, 78, for chief minister in the UP elections. "Since you all spoke about women's empowerment, I must tell you that we have picked Sheila Dikshit as the chief ministerial candidate," Mr. Gandhi said.
He had been asked whether the party would walk its talk on empowering women by giving them more ticket to contest the UP elections. Mr. Gandhi was to have begun a 'padayatra' today, but did not get permission from the administration to hold one.
Courtesy: NDTV
