Sitapur (UP), Dec 26: With just a month left for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi here today kicked off the third phase of campaign, exhorting people to bring about a change in the state by untying “the hands which have remained tied for the past 22 years”.
“Untie the hands which have remained tied for the past 22 years...You people have given 22 years to them (non-Congress parties)...22 important years have been wasted...22 years of the youths have been wasted,” he said at an election meeting in Sidhauli constituency here.
It was Rahul's first campaign after the announcement of polls dates. UP would see polling on February 4, 8, 11, 15, 19, 23 and 28.
Reiterating his earlier statements, he said if voted to power, Congress would work for the common man's development and would turn UP into a model state within five years.
“Give us five years and we will show what can be done... vote for the party which would form government of common people—that of the poor, farmers, labourers, minorities, backwards and others and work with full vigour,” he said.
Launching a scathing attack on the Mayawati government, he said the ruling BSP has not cared for the problems faced by the people of the state.
The BSP chief has never visited any village, spent the night there or walked on the village roads, “then how can she understand what poverty and problems are?”