Varanasi:
Rahul Gandhi said today that his party will not form an alliance with any other after Uttar Pradesh votes. "We are not here to enter a compromise with anyone," he told reporters at a lengthy Q and A in Varanasi. "Any agreement will only be with the people of UP." Mr Gandhi also said that though he has great respect for Chief Minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, they have "forgotten how to listen to the people of this state."
Campaigning for the first phase of the elections - which votes over 26 days starting on February 8 and ending on March 4 - ends today. So Mr Gandhi spoke unusually forcefully. Sporting a beard, occasionally seen rolling up the sleeves of his white
kurta, the Congress General Secretary said the UP elections are not make-or-break, as being described by analysts. He also said that unlike other politicians, "my objective is not to become Prime Minister." He said his single-point agenda is "to change the fate of the people of Uttar Pradesh. I frankly don't care what the result of this election is," he added.
He also targeted the BJP and its senior leader LK Advani. The BJP, he said, professed support for the new anti-corruption Lokpal Bill but shot down Mr Gandhi's proposal to make the Lokpal or anti-graft agency a constitutional body like the Election Commission. "Let us make a Lokpal Bill which allows independence, which gives true power to the Lokpal. Mr Advani and the other Opposition Leaders laughed at this idea in the Parliament. They stood there. I saw them with my own eyes, sitting there and laughing. This idea is a fundamental, powerful idea for this country. And they laughed. And when you ask them - why didn't you pass the constitutional Lokpal Bill, they say it is not our idea. It is Rahul Gandhi's idea or Manmohan Singhji's idea or Soniaji's idea. No. It is India's idea. And it is going to happen, whether they like it or not."
Mr Gandhi said that while Mr Advani conducted a national
rath yatra or tour against corruption, its chief minister Narendra Modi is challenging the appointment of a Lokayukta or ombudsman for Gujarat.
Mr Gandhi's frontline position of the Congress' campaign in Uttar Pradesh has added huge prestige points. The Congress leader, however, said none of this matters to him. Reacting to criticism, aired most often by Mayawati, about the nights he spends at the homes of Dalits in villages across her state, he said, "I am not budging from here. Till the people of UP start daring to hope, I will be found here. My work will be done when the people here can support themselves, stand on their own feet. Till then, Rahul Gandhi will be seen with farmers, in villages, at the homes of poor people.
Mr Gandhi said that the infamous backwardness of India's largest state cannot be ignored, or considered in isolation. "Uttar Pradesh is slowing India down, and it is not UP's fault. We are not going to tolerate this anymore. Full stop. End."
Describing the real job of politicians as "transmitters", he said, "I have no Shakti, I have no power. I take the voices of the people and make them heard in the Lok Sabha." Continuing with his theme of needing to talk to the people and understanding their problems, he said, "am fond of Mayawati , I respect her.
My problem with Mayawati-ji is that she has forgotten how to listen to the people of UP."