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New Delhi, Jan. 16: A Congress delegation today complained to the Election Commission against chief minister Mayawati’s “blatant misuse” of the Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy for electoral gains.
Sources said Rahul Gandhi had asked the party to approach the commission with a detailed report when it emerged at a Congress review meeting that many officials were “acting as BSP agents”.
The Congress told the commission that low-level officials as well as some senior secretaries were acting as “spokespersons” and “activists” of the ruling BSP, and that some top officials transferred by the poll panel were still pulling strings from behind the scenes.
Abhishek Singhvi, who led the delegation, said that in some districts, the husbands of women BSP candidates were on poll duty.
“While some officials acted in connivance with the ruling party, others were being intimated to work in the interests of the BSP,” he said.
Rahul, who began a five-day tour of Bundelkhand this morning, told party leaders that sustaining the high-pitch campaign was the key.
He held separate meetings with Dalit and Muslim leaders to draw up campaign plans but cautioned the party not to focus on caste alone but discuss communities only in the context of development and injustice.
Priyanka Vadra has joined the campaign but will confine herself to Amethi and Rae Bareli. Sonia Gandhi will be reaching Uttarakhand tomorrow to hold rallies after health problems and bad weather forced her to skip two previous public meetings.
Sonia picture
As Sonia was on her way to the hill state, a group of Baba Ramdev supporters demonstrated against the Congress at the party headquarters here and threw ink on her picture on the main hoarding.
Some ticket-seekers from Uttar Pradesh chased and beat up a few of them. Party staff quickly cleaned Sonia’s photograph.
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