Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday rejected Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s charges, without naming him, that the State had ignored development.
Mr. Yadav pointed out that the land for setting up an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Rae Bareli was given free of cost by the State government.
“Even if land has to be acquired by the State government it would be given, but AIIMS should be built within a stipulated time frame.” Land was also given for setting up an Indian Institute of Hotel Management at Rae Bareli. “The State government has not been lax on this count and had taken several development initiatives.”
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On Wednesday, at a rally in Rath in Hamirpur district of Bundelkhand region, the Congress leader said the State government had ignored the needs of the poor and taken no development measures.
Talking to journalists after unveiling and laying the foundation for schemes worth Rs. 2318 crore at his official residence, Mr. Yadav took a swipe at the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party on the Bundelkhand package.
“The UPA government should find out where have the goats, which were distributed under the Bundelkhand package by the previous regime, gone,” he said.
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To Mr. Gandhi’s charge that the State government was trying to buy time for implementing the Food Security Bill, he said though the implementation would take time, “welfare measures for people will not be suspended.”