Sonia hits home target

The rift between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party seems to have widened further, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi today saying the l...

The rift between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party seems to have widened further, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi today saying the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh has deteriorated.

Sonia, who kickstarted the three-day tour of her constituency Rae Bareli today, said she got to know about the law and order situation from the feedback from the people and from media reports.

8216;8216;We are ready to discuss the issue with the Central Government and also the state government, if need be,8217;8217; the Congress chief said during an informal chat with mediapersons here. This is her second visit to her constituency after being elected to the Lok Sabha.

On the first day of her tour, which began from Sidhaulli village, Sonia visited interior villages of the district and interacted with the locals.

8216;8216;Hamare gaon mein azadi ke baad se koi bhi saansad nahin aaya. Soniaji pehli saansad hain jo hamare paas jeetne ke baad aayi hain No MP has come to our village since Independence. Soniaji is the first to visit our place after being elected MP,8217;8217; said Bachan Singh, a septuagenarian farmer in Samdhaun village of the district.

More than 500 villagers had assembled at the local primary school in Samdhaun when Sonia reached there at 1 pm. The Congress president mixed freely with the crowd, talking to them and asking after their problems.

As the villagers spoke about their problems, Sonia8217;s local representative Kishori Lal Sharma made a note of all the complaints.

Story continues below this ad

8216;8216;Yahan bachon ke khelne ke liye jhule nahin hain We have no swings for the children,8217;8217; said Ram Devi, an elderly woman, after which Sonia assured her a park will be built in the village from the MPLAD fund and issued instructions for the same to Kishori Lal Sharma.

8216;8216;Yahan par vikas ki zaroorat hai, sadak aur bijli ki haalat kharaab hai. Hum kendra se har sambhav madad kar rahe hain The place needs development. The situation is grim on the power front and we are trying to provide every possible assistance on this,8217;8217; Sonia pointed out.

Rae Bareli acquired the status of a VVIP area soon after the Congress-led Government came to power at the Centre, with a special package of Rs 500 crore already being granted to Indian Telephone Industries to be used for the district. Besides, the Centre has allocated nearly Rs 270 crore to improve the condition of roads in the twin constituencies of Rae Bareli and Amethi from where Rahul Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Sonia will also unveil a project tomorrow at the Feroze Gandhi Polytechnic in Rae Bareli under which two teachers each from the primary and degree colleges of the district would be imparted training on the Java script by two computer engineers from the US.