'Modi doing mere lip service on gau raksha', says Sheila Dikshit

Congress chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls Sheila Dikshit on Monday launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that mere "lip service" on gau raksha will not work and in order to improve the situation, he should initiate strict action.

"I am not satisfied with the Prime Minister's statement (on gau raksha). Only lip service will not work. He has to initiate strict action," Dikshit told reporters.

"I have seen cows wandering on the streets and no one cares for them. For gau raksha (cow protection), cow shelters should be made. They also have the right to live. Something needs to be done on the ground," she said.

The prime minister on Sunday took on cow vigilantes at a public meeting in Gajwel in Telangana.

"I want to tell everybody beware of these fake cow protectors. These handful of vigilantes have nothing to do with cow protection, but want to create 'tanaav' (tension) and 'takrav' (conflict) in the society," Modi said.

"In the name of cow protection, these fake cow protectors are trying to disturb the peace and harmony of the nation. I want the real cow protectors to expose them (fake ones) and the state governments should take stringent action against them," he said.

Hailing the works done by the UPA government, Dikshit said the pace of development had stopped in the present regime and it is seen nowhere and same was the case with Uttar Pradesh.

Stating that the large crowd gathered during Sonia Gandhi's roadshow in the PM's constituency showed "people's anger against him", Dikshit claimed people of state will help Congress return to power in 2017.

"In the past 27 years, people of the state have seen SP, BSP and BJP but the state is now among the top five less developed states," she said, adding that wherever the new Congress team had gone, it got tremendous response from the people.

Asked about her contesting assembly polls, Dikshit said, "the party high command will decide whether she will contest or not and from which seat".

Replying to another question, she said the party was working on selecting candidates for 2017 polls and the names would be announced later.