Congress President Sonia Gandhi with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot during an election campaign rally in Sikar, Rajasthan on Wednesday.
Countering BJP's claim of lack of development by the Gehlot government in Rajasthan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today highlighted the schemes launched by her party's government and claimed that no such programme was initiated by the previous BJP regime.
She asked the people to compare the development work done by the previous BJP government with those by the current Gehlot government in the state to determine who was better in performance.
Addressing a large gathering at the sports ground in Sikar in Rajasthan, Ms Gandhi said BJP was making "false, baseless and misleading" allegations against the ruling Congress government.
"When they were in power, what did they do? Did they provide free treatment facility or care for hungry people or ever felt problem of anyone in the state?" Ms Gandhi asked.
She said the opposition does politics of self-interest and self-serving for misleading people.
"You compare their works with ours. Compare contribution of Congress with BJP's works," she said, adding "They just mislead you; they cannot win hearts of people."
The Congress president listed a number of initiatives taken for welfare of farmers, women and tribals by the UPA government and praised the Gehlot government for developmental works carried out in the state.
She said the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had allocated funds to all states without discrimination and the Rajasthan government had utilised the funds with full honesty.
She said the UPA government at the Centre had brought revolutionary schemes like RTI, MGNREGA, Food security and new Land Acquisition Act to ensure proper compensation and waived loans.
"Rajasthan, which was a backward state at the time of independence, has become a pioneer state in social security due to efforts of the Congress government," she said.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and AICC General Secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Gurudas Kamth were also present.