Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday sought to connect with Poorvanchalis and migrants from other States stating he himself was a migrant and so was Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Exhorting migrants in the Capital, Gandhi said Congress party was committed to providing a respectful life to everyone in the Capital unlike other States.
Rahul touched on his family’s and Dikshit’s connection with UP in an apparent attempt to reach out to a sizeable Poorvanchali (East UP) vote base in the Capital.
“In Karnataka, Maharashtra, they create tension. People from Uttar Pradesh go to Maharashtra and people from Shiv Sena make them run away. But here (in Delhi and Congress-ruled States) we have love and brotherhood,” Gandhi said.
He also claimed that Congress stood for development, transparency and empowerment. Compared to NDA, the UPA has created more infrastructure in the country, besides empowering the people, including women.
“We always believe in empowering people, besides development and we have done better in the power sector, in education and healthcare. Our underlining philosophy is about your emancipation. We see everyone as equal,” he said.
Rahul was addressing an election rally in Ambedkar Nagar in South Delhi where his grandmother and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had addressed an election rally in the 1980s. This was Rahul’s second election rally in Delhi, the first being in Mangolpuri in the run up to the December 4 Assembly elections. Speaking on the issue of graft, which has been used by BJP to target UPA Government, Rahul said Congress gave people RTI to fight it. “The decisions which used to be taken behind closed doors are now out in the open. You can ask the Government anything,” he added.
Contesting BJP’s claim that NDA Government built highways, work on which came to a standstill during UPA rule, he said the latter built three times more roads than the former. The UPA Government has worked more on creating infrastructure, including roads, electricity, hospitals and schools.
Rahul asked voters in the city to hand over a fourth term to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, saying the Capital has seen unprecedented development under her rule and she has changed its face. He said while Dikshit had a track record to prove her mettle, BJP only indulged in bluster and rhetoric.
“The Delhi international airport is considered the second best in the world. look at the transport infrastructure: Two million people are travelling by Delhi Metro daily. Earlier, there used to be shortage of electricity, now we have 24-hour power supply. The whole infrastructure has undergone a sea change,” Rahul said.