‘Centre neglecting Sonia’s Rae Bareli’

RAE BARELI: A monitoring committee on central schemes attacked the NDA government on Thursday for neglecting Rae Bareli at a meeting chaired by Congress president and local MP Sonia Gandhi, also attended by her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi, along with leaders of other parties.

At a vigilance and monitoring committee meeting to review the implementation of centrally sponsored schemes, Congress and Samajwadi Party representatives moved a censure motion condemning the NDA government for not allocating sufficient funds under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana for Rae Bareli.

Though Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi refused to speak about the deliberations at the meeting, UP minister of science and technology Manoj Pandey said, “We are not getting funds from the Centre for central schemes. A censure motion against the NDA government was moved and Sonia Gandhi has been requested to raise the issue in Parliament.”

Congress leader Dinesh Pratap Singh said the motion was adopted and taken on record. The BJP’s Ajay Pratap Singh said he opposed the motion. He said senior district officials had countered Dinesh Pratap Singh and Pandey when they accused the NDA government of treating Rae Bareli differently as the fund allocation was nearly the same for all districts.

The Congress president later visited the city resource centre coming up in Rae Bareli. “Priyanka-ji, you should join full-time politics in UP,” said Bhupendra Diwedi, president of the Sabhasad Ekta Manch. “Why do you want to keep me away from Rae Bareli? I want to be here,” said Priyanka.