Mixed feelings for Cong in battle between Sonia and Maya

Monday brought mixed feelings for the Congress: the Allahabad High Court stayed the order issued by the Mayawati government canceling a land transfer order for the rail coach factory in Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli, on the other hand Mayawati gave a shock to the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi by refusing her to address a public rally in her own constituency. The court will hear the issue on October 22.

As per the reports, the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will go on a daylong visit to her constituency Rae Bareili on Tuesday, but will not address any public rally as scheduled earlier.

Earlier, citing Section 144 of the CrPC that prohibits gathering already in force in Rae Bareli, the district administration on Monday denied permission to Congress chief to hold proposed rally in Lalganj on Tuesday; saying it violates law and order situation.

The denial came barely an hour after the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court maintained status quo on the project and stayed on the order of the state government revoking the land allotment for setting up a railway coach factory at Lalganj.

The High Court allowed the writ petition filed by Railway Ministry Monday on behalf of the Centre seeking stay on the State’s order.

"This was a project meant for the development of UP. Politics should not interfere. Every body is committed for development. Mayawati has taken a decision against all norms," said the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The UP Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati took decision on late Saturday night after she knew Sonia Gandhi was scheduled to lay foundation stone of the project on October 14 and hit the blow on the UPA chairperson on Sunday by cancelling allotment of nearly 500 acres of land for rail coach factory in the latter’s constituency Rae Bareli.

“The act of the UP government in cancelling the inauguration and implementation of a public interest project is unprecedented and smacks of petty politicking. It is anti-development, anti-people and against the federal concept of India,” said the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee in-charge Abhishek Singhvi, adding that the factory after its completion would produce 1,000 railway coaches per year and employ 10,000 persons.

Although relations between the BSP and the Congress were at swords’ point after a series of barbs exchanged between Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati, it went to the lowest ebb after BSP pulled out support from the Congress led UPA at the Centre and tried her best to defeat the UPA facing trust vote. But the recent adverse development that has sown seed of enmity would seldom die. The matter has now snowballed into a deep rivalry.

This has gone even far below than the extreme cold war between Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sonia Gandhi, when the former always avoided the Congress stronghold of Rai Bareli and Amethi.

Mayawati, riding over the rainbow coalition of Dalit-Brahman, has now set her eyes on the 15 percent minority vote bank and in the coming few weeks, she is reported to hold rallies of the BSP in the Gandhi’s stronghold.