Rahul declines to guess Congress' chances at UP polls

Vigorously campaigning for the Congress and seeking an opportunity to rule, Rahul Gandhi today refused to hazard a guess on what the chances are for the party at the polls in Uttar Pradesh.

"I don't make predictions", Rahul told PTI when asked how many seats his party could win at the assembly polls. Congress has 25 seats in the outgoing house out of a total strength of 403.

On the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of elections in assembly segments of his Lok Sabha constituency the Congress MP charged the Mulayam Singh Yadav government with not using the Central funds given to it for the development of Uttar Pradesh and his Amethi Parliamentary Constituency.

"Delhi aur Amethi ke beech mein Lucknow parta hai jahan kaafi paisa phans jata hai" (between Delhi and Amethi falls Lucknow where a large portion of the Central funds get blocked), he alleged while addressing election meetings at Rasoolabad, Shahgarh and Gauriganj areas in the district.

Rahul made a special mention of funds released for construction of 450 km of roads in Amethi constituency and alleged that the money was not properly utilised.

"The roads constructed with the central funds are of very poor quality... they get damaged quickly," he said.

Rahul appealed to the people to vote for the congress candidates to ensure all round development of the area.

"Aap hame vidhayak bhi dijiye...hum unke saath milkar yahan ka vikas karenge" (give us MLAs. Together we will develop the area), he said.

"We have to face a lot of difficulties as the Uttar Pradesh government does not cooperate with us", he said.

The young congress MP freely mingled with the people of the area and listened to their problems.

At Gauriganj, a large number of women were present at Rahul's meeting and cheered him when he rose to speak. He said that several programmes had been initiated for the welfare of the women in the area.

A large number of Muslims were also present at his meetings in Rasoolabad, a predominently Muslim area, and at Shahgarh. The Congress MP, who was carrying party badges with him, was surrounded by children at many places who were asking for the badges. Rahul promptly obliged them, much to their cheer.

Rahul was accompanied by his brother-in-law Robert Vadra and senior Congress leader Satish Sharma.