Rahul Gandhi hails Congress contribution to Uttar Pradesh

Chandauli/Varanasi, Feb 10 (ANI): Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has hailed his party's contribution to the overall development and progress of Uttar Pradesh, despite not being in power.

Addressing a rally in Chandauli, Gandhi said that when in power, the Congress party had launched series of schemes for the upliftment of the poor and development of entire state.

"The state will progress when your voices will reach to Lucknow and Delhi. In 2004, you made our government; we waved off your loans, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Bundelkhand package, Sachar commission, reservation, right to food, right to education, right to information. We did all these things when we were in power," Gandhi added.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that the Congress party would form the government on its own.

"We are not contesting elections to form a coalition government. We want to form the government on our own. We don't want anybody to suspect us that we are contesting elections to form coalition government. The coalition governments in Uttar Pradesh have failed and such kind of government is not meant to benefit Uttar Pradesh. We are contesting these elections, we are campaigning, we have a strategy in place and we want to form the government in Uttar Pradesh on our own," he added.

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

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