Rahul promises tickets to ‘performing’ workers

“Workers who have calibre will be given a chance to rise instead of those who have came directly,” he told a meeting of party workers at Banshidhar college in Orai. Gandhi said earlier workers used to work at the groundroots level but relatives of some big leaders elbowed them out to grab important posts. “But,it will not happen now,” he said.

The MP from Amethi also advised the youths to concentrate on broadening the base of the organisation,rather than making frequent visits to Delhi.

Taking pot shots at both the ruling BSP and main opposition Samajwadi Party,he said in these two parties “one leader takes all the decision”,but it is not so in Congress.

Rahul Gandhi,who arrived on a two-day visit of Bundelkhand,was accompained by senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and office-bearers of the Youth Congress.

Rahul said that while the country was progressing,Uttar Pradesh was sliding backwards in terms of development and the conditions in Bundelkhand were particularly bad. Youths of the state have to go to Maharashtra,Punjab and South India in search of employment.

One of the Youth Congress workers who attended the meeting at Orai in Jalaun said Rahul gave examples of how funds were not being utilised properly,even as the state faced electricity shortage and the condition of the roads remained poor.

“Roads are in a pitiable condition and power generation has become half of what it was in 1990,” he added.

Congress leader Dijvijay Singh urged partymen to be prepared for a decisive battle to uproot the “corrupt” Mayawati government in the state.

Earlier in the day,Rahul landed in Kanpur and drove to Hamirpur where he spoke to a group of youths for about 25 minutes. On way from Hamirpur to Jalaun,his cavalcade was stopped at many places by locals who wanted to hand over memorandums regarding their local issues. He listened to their problems and also stopped for some time at a small market near Jalaun to inquire about the prices and storage facilities for wheat in the region.

On Saturday,he will attend a rally which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address in Banda. This is the first time the prime minister is visiting Bundelkhand.