Making a U-turn, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to return the land in Rae Bareli for construction of a rail coach factory, an issue on which she had a high-pitched spat with Congress President Sonia Gandhi during the week.
“The state cabinet today decided to give 189.25 hectares of land on lease to the Railways for 90 years as requested by it for setting up the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli and a letter to this effect is being sent to the Railways Minister today itself”, Chief Minister Maywati told newspersons at Lucknow on Saturday.
The report of Net Ram, the Chief Minister's Principal Secretary who was assigned to inquire into the matter after the land allotment was cancelled by the government last week, was presented in the state cabinet on Saturday which took a decision for leasing out the land, she said.
On the withdrawal of land allotment earlier which had stalled Sonia Gandhi's planned "bhoomi pujan" there and triggered a political storm, Mayawati said the action was "illegal" as proper cabinet approval was not taken for the same.
"A recommendation in principle for the same had been made by me earlier after which it had to be placed before the cabinet but it was not done", she said.
In an oblique attack on Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati said the "drama" over the land allotment was enacted by the Congress chief keeping in view coming Lok Sabha polls.
Referring to a notification published in newspapers a couple of days ago that 940 acre of land was in possession of the Railways, Mayawati said why bhoomi pujan was not done then and a hue and cry was made over it simply to gain political mileage by Congress.
"With today's cabinet decision, the whole controversy and the drama will be buried in the soil of Rae Bareli", Mayawati said.
The Chief Minister said that by leasing out the land which was very small in size as compared to the 940 acres already in possession of the railways, the state cabinet also tried to bury the controversy and the "drama which had been aimed at maligning her government" by branding it as against the development of Rae Bareli district.
Apparently to counter the charge that her government is meting out a step-motherly treatment to Rae Bareli and Amethi, Lok Sabha constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, the BSP chief said she is sending a letter to Prime minister Manmohan Singh seeking a Rs. 5000-crore special package for reviving sick and non-functional factories in the two districts.
A detailed report on the number of such factories and the number of people rendered unemployed by them has been sent to the Prime Minister and its copy to Sonia Gandhi urging her to use her good offices for getting them cleared, Mayawati said.
To questions that her government's earlier plea for a Rs 80,000-crore special package for UP has not yet been cleared by the Centre, she said she hoped that it would not be the case with Rae Bareli and Amethi.
The UP government's withdrawal of land allotment on Saturday last had come three days ahead of Sonia Gandhi's visit to Rae Bareli for 'bhoomi pujan' on Tuesday.
The Rae Bareli district authorities had also clamped prohibitory order at Lalchawk in Rae Bareli, scuttling a proposed rally to be addressed by the Congress President.
On Wednesday, the state government's cancellation of land allotment for the rail coach factory was challenged in Allahabad High Court which ordered a virtual stay on the cancellation.
Mayawati tells partymen to prepare for LS polls
Gearing up with the announcement of assembly polls in five other states, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has started motivating her party workers to prepare for the coming general election scheduled later next year.
Bahujan Samaj Party supreme on Saturday exhorted partymen to start all out preparations so as to give "surprising" results on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
"With good results in the Lok Sabha elections, I am sure, when the new government is constituted at the centre, the situation would be entirely different", Mayawati said while addressing a seminar on 'Scheduled Caste/Tribes and OBCs -- Problems, Reasons and Remedy,' at Lucknow on Saturday.
"Though every section of society has come with the BSP, those who are left out should also be motivated through the ideology and principals and brought in the party," she said.
Blaming the Congress for social, educational and economic backwardness of SCs and STs, Mayawati said that they continued to suffer because of the casteist mentality and policies adopted by the party which ruled the state and the country for the maximum time period since independence.
“That Congress as also the other parties discriminating these sections of society could be judged from the fact that neither the Congress-led UPA government nor the Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government declared national mourning on the death of BSP founder Kanshi Ram who had dedicated his life for the upliftment and welfare of the most deprived sections.”
“As the Congress votebank has been shifting towards the BSP both its leaders and the "yuvraj" (Rahul Gandhi) have been indulging in every sort of drama to bring them back but it would have no effect”, she said.
Perhaps to ally the fears of her traditional votebank due to inclusion of upper caste in the BSP, Mayawati cited figures to stress that the party's success in the last assembly elections became possible only with their support and backing.
Earlier, only with the support of the SCs and the OBCs we had not been able to make such success, she said adding that this support and help of the "Sarv Samaj" was also required for BSP to get hold of the Centre.
She also warned the BSP workers against internal rift and asked them to work not just among their castes but also among others and develop understanding to strengthen the party.
Referring to Taj corridor and disproportionate assets case against her she said, it had been done to deviate her from her mission to work for the downtrodden.
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