While Sonia had expressed her intention to inaugurate the bridge, for which Rs 30 crore was given out of the Central Road Fund at her personal behest, Mayawati got her Public Works Department minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui to go ahead with the inauguration, 100 km away from the site of the bridge, in state capital Lucknow itself, 24 hours ahead of schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
Even as the five Congress MLAs belonging to Sonia's constituency marched to Raj Bhawan, seeking the Governor's intervention, the ritual was carried out hastily at a stone's throw from Governor BL Joshi's residence.
As if to add insult to injury, in utter violation of all established federal norms, the Mayawati administration physically stopped Union Minister of State for Surface Transport RPN Singh from proceeding to the site of the bridge, around the same time that Siddiqui was carrying out the inauguration ceremony in Lucknow.
Compelled to abort his journey at Munshiganj, well short of Dalmau, Singh told media persons: "The inauguration is not so much of an issue; but the manner in which the state government has been putting hurdles in every work initiated by the Centre reflects their negative attitude towards the development of the state."
The Congress delegation that met the Governor flayed the state government for the act.
"UP Chief Minister Mayawati's decision to hastily go for the inauguration was an afterthought, as Sonia Gandhi's intent to inaugurate the bridge was already conveyed to the state government," claimed Dinesh Pratap Singh, a Congress member from Rae Bareli.
In a letter sent to UP PWD engineer-in-chief T Ram on February 17, the Union Surface Transport ministry had made it loud and clear that UPA chairperson and Rae Bareli MP Sonia Gandhi wished to inaugurate the bridge during the second week of March.
Feigning ignorance about any such letter, Siddiqui told media persons: "In fact, the chief minister had herself proposed to inaugurate the bridge on her birthday on January 15
itself along with so many other such installations, but it had to be put off because the approach roads of the bridge were not ready by then."
"The state government's decision to go ahead with the ceremony on March 4 itself was an attempt hogging the credit for the construction of the bridge that was done entirely with central funding of Rs 30 crore, released out of the Central Road Fund, solely at the behest of the congress president " Singh pointed out.
Bachrawan MLA Raja Ram Tyagi as well as Harchandpur MLA Shiv Ganesh Lodhi termed the state government's move as an "act of cheap publicity".
"All that the Maya government had done in Rae Bareli was to create hurdles in the path of development of the area; even major projects like the rail coach factory were opposed by her, while basic needs like availability of electricity were denied to the local people," Lodhi sought to point out.
The memorandum signed by Singh, Tyagi, Lodhi and other three MLAs Ajay Pal Singh (from Unchahar), Ashok Kumar Singh (Sareni) and Shiv Balak Pasi (Salon) , explicitly warns, "any attempt by a Bahujan Samaj Party minister to inaugurate the bridge would be opposed tooth and nail by the people of Rae Bareli, who were terribly agitated over the state government's move."
Although the UP PWD minister failed to give any justification for carrying out the inauguration exactly 24 hours before schedule and that too more than 100 km away from the site of the bridge, he strongly refuted the Union government's claim that the ceremony was held only to prevent Congress president Sonia Gandhi from performing the ritual.
He also sought to refute the Centre's charge that the state government was trying to hog the credit for the construction of the bridge that would fulfil the long-awaited demand of local electorate to connect Dalmau town in Rae Bareli district to Fatehpur.
"The bridge was built with central assistance alright, but that does not entitle the Centre to decide who will inaugurate the bridge and when," he said.
