WITH LANTERNS, TORCHLIGHT, CONG RESORTS TO THEATRICS ON PM’S B’DAY
LUCKNOW : The Congress on Monday resorted to theatrics to make its point that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state had failed to bring about development in Uttar Pradesh. A group of partymen, led by Congress leader Shailendra Tiwari, used the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday to draw people’s attention to the issue. On a bright, sunny day, Tiwari and his team used lanterns and torchlights to search for ‘development’ behind the hoardings focusing on government schemes. Senior party leaders do not rule out more such theatrics in the coming months in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “Let’s look behind this hoarding. We may find development here. Where is development? Let’s find out,” said the partymen as they moved from one place to other, often pointing at incomplete projects, potholed roads and heaps of garbage on way to Vidhan Bhawan. “We began our journey from Aliganj and reached Vidhan Bhawan after undertaking a 15 to 20 km journey to verify claims of development that is said to have been carried out during the tenure of BJP led governments. We did not find development anywhere in the past four-year tenure of the Modi government. So, we used lanterns and torchlight. The only developed place we found was the state BJP headquarters in front of Vidhan Bhawan. A number of SUVs with BJP flags remain parked near the headquarters having all the luxuries,” said Tiwari on phone. The Congress is enthused with response to the move. State Congress chief Raj Babbar said: “Our workers will go street to street in the cities and visit the villages to expose their claims and tell the people the ground realities.”