Gehlot: Congress firm on strengthening base in UP

GENERAL SECRETARY of the All India Congress Committee and party incharge in UP Ashok Gehlot said here on Friday that the party was not in favour of forging alliance with any other political party for the coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh but was determined to strengthen its organisation in UP. Gehlot ,who claimed that the popularity of the party had increased, denied that the Congress had any role in phone tapping and said Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh should take an initiative to publish the CD of the telephone tapping.

GENERAL SECRETARY of the All India Congress Committee and party incharge in UP Ashok Gehlot said here on Friday that the party was not in favour of forging alliance with any other political party for the coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh but was determined to strengthen its organisation in UP. Gehlot ,who claimed that the popularity of the party had increased, denied that the Congress had any role in phone tapping and said Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh should take an initiative to publish the CD of the telephone tapping.

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Speaking on the conclusion of the Jan Vishwas Yatra of the party in Deoria, Gehlot said in the last 16 years non-Congress governments had not been sincere about the development of the state. He, however, admitted that the party too had made mistakes by forging alliances with other political parties and even played second fiddle, which demoralised the party workers.

Gehlot said the Congress had paid heavily for forging alliances and was now striving hard to regain the lost ground in the state. In reply to a question, he said party had no plan to join hands with any other political outfit. However, if any one would offer an alliance, the party would consider the proposal. The former chief minister of Rajasthan accused that the Mulayam Government was not sincere about the development of the state and instead of focussing on development, the party leaders were wasting energy on cornering the Congress Party and the UPA Government.

He said in his regime, six power generation plants were set up in Rajasthan and subsequently power generation had increased by 1750 MW, while the UP Government had activated the administration for recovery of electricity bills and was harassing the people.

Gehlot supported the agitation of the minority community to over the caricature of Prophet of Islam published in a Danish newspaper and said their feelings had been hurt and they had every right to express their anger. However, he condemned state minister Yaqoob Quraishi for announcing a reward against the cartoonist and termed this as unfortunate. He also highlighted various schemes launched by the Manmohan Singh Government.