Rahul Gandhi flags poor state of roads in Rae Bareli

Two Samajwadi Party MLAs stage protest before DISHA meeting in Congress leader’s Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Wednesday raised the poor condition of roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in his constituency Rae Bareli during a DISHA (District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee) meeting.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, at a meeting in his constituency Rae Bareli on Wednesday. (ANI PHOTO)

Gandhi displayed photographs of potholed stretches and sought details on the poor condition of roads and the agencies responsible.

Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to Rae Bareli, attended the meeting at the collectorate along with the Congress Amethi MP Kishori Lal Sharma, UP food and civil supplies minister Manoj Kumar Pandey and horticulture minister Dinesh Pratap Singh. A PMGSY executive engineer assured the participants in the meeting that the roads would be repaired.

In his eighth visit to Rae Bareli since being elected to Lok Sabha from the constituency in 2024, Gandhi also handed over two ambulances to the health department, laid the foundation and dedicated development projects worth ₹3 crore under MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) to the people. This included a ‘baraat ghar’ and a 250 KVA transformer.

Just before the meeting, Samajwadi Party MLAs Rahul Rajpoot (Harchandpur) and Shyam Sunder Bharti (Bachrawan) staged a protest at the venue with placards, posters and slogans against the BJP, raising issues ranging from the condition of roads to alleged land-grabbing.

Rajpoot said he came to raise the issues of rampant land grabbing in Rae Bareli and roads under the district panchayat that need repairs.

“This is the last DISHA meeting before the 2027 elections. In Harchandpur, a majority of schools are closed. The BJP is spoiling the future of students. Today, we came to raise the issue,” Rajpoot said after the police took away his placard and poster.

Asked whether the issue will be raised in the meeting, he said, “We have told Rahul Gandhi about this and will write to him again. The Zila Panchayat chairperson keeps silent on this and the BJP ministers come to defend. The zila panchayat chairperson should speak up instead of ministers. We do not want to listen to ministers.”

Earlier in the morning, Rahul Gandhi met local residents and party workers at the Bhuemau guest house.

A woman party worker tied rakhi to Rahul. A few Samajwadi Party leaders too visited him.

Rahul Gandhi more interested

in finding faults, says UP min

UP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, in a statement, criticised Gandhi’s approach, alleging that he appeared more interested in finding faults in government schemes than in reviewing their implementation.

Another minister Manoj Kumar Pandey later told reporters that the meeting covered various central government schemes, including food security.

On roads, Pandey said, “Around 16,000 small and major roads had been constructed in the district over the past five years.”