BJP promises to work for development in UP, if elected to power

Gorakhpur/Varanasi/Kanpur, Feb 7 (ANI): Flexing its political muscle ahead of polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 'promised' to work for the development and welfare of the masses if elected to power.

Speaking to mediapersons in Gorakhpur, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said the party was willing to expand employment for the youth and work towards rural development if given an opportunity to do so.

"We will create job opportunities for ten million youth across Uttar Pradesh. We will make roads in every village. We will make water available in every village. We will provide irrigation facilities to every farmer. We will work towards the welfare and development of the poor and the farmers and labourers," Gadkari.

Hitting out at his party's principle political rivals, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi expressed concern on the deplorable breakdown of administration and services in Uttar Pradesh.

"The Congress ruined and destroyed the Uttar Pradesh, while the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party buried it. What is happening in Uttar Pradesh? There are 200 million people in the state, yet there is no administration. It also lags behind other state in terms of education and literacy, and health and diseases. Uttar Pradesh is also home to India's maximum number of cancer patients," Joshi told a gathering in Varanasi.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy lashed out at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for perceived failure in addressing the concerns of the masses.

"He has come to change the Uttar Pradesh, that is what the Congress general secretary has said recently. We want to know where the Congress party brought development and changes in India? We would like to know the parameters and the defining model of development from India that they wish to follow and implement in Uttar Pradesh. Is their model state Andhra Pradesh, which is in total disarray? Is their model state Haryana, which is also in disarray?" Rudy said in Kanpur.

Development has emerged as the focal point of the electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh with anti-incumbency, the new buzz dominating the circuits.

The polls in Uttar Pradesh are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

Polls in Uttar Pradesh will be conducted between February 8 and March 3. Counting will take place on March 6.

A new 403-member state assembly will be elected in March. The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections. (ANI)