For Congress individual takes precedence over country: Keshav Prasad Maurya

For the Congress an individual takes precedence over the country, alleged Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya as he slammed the party for holding demonstrations over the questioning of its leader Rahul Gandhi in a money-laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had recently lodged a money-laundering case in connection with the National Herald-Associated Journals Ltd deal and summoned party president Sonia Gandhi and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for questioning.

As Rahul Gandhi appeared before the ED for questioning, the Congress held protests across the country, alleging "misuse" of the agency.

Lashing out at the party, Maurya said political demonstrations have proved that "corrupt people are trying unsuccessfully to put pressure on an important institution like the Enforcement Directorate".

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had faced harassment at the hands of central agencies when he was the chief minister of Gujarat but he never used the party to show strength or put pressure.

"He had to appear in front of the ED or the CBI but never showed the strength of the party to avoid it. But here the country is not big for the Gandhi family, their party is not big, the individual is big," he said.

"In the BJP, it is not so. It is the country first, then the party and only then the person," he said during a two-day visit to the Mauranipur area of the district.

Maurya also claimed that his government in Uttar Pradesh kept the state riot-free for five years.

"Not even a single riot was allowed to take place while the opposition parties wanted riots so that the BJP could be defeated," he alleged.

"But we keep the state free from riots, crime and corruption, and also making sincere efforts to get rid of poverty," he claimed.

On his verbal duel with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in the Vidhan Sabha recently, he said the opposition leader has become arrogant.

"In his eyes, apart from Mulayam Singh's family, there is no leader in the backward classes and no one can speak. But we are members of a dignified party and do not behave rudely," Maurya said referring to Yadav locking horns with him during a discussion on the state Budget in the Legislative Assembly.

Earlier, while addressing a Garib Kalyan Jansabha, Maurya gave certificates to beneficiaries of different government schemes.