Amethi, July 17 - Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday declared war on the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh asserting that his party would now aggressively work for the poor irrespective of any police action, though he conceded state party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati were 'unfortunate and wrong'.
'We will now work aggressively for the poor; we will work for their rights across Uttar Pradesh. The poor in every district of the state will come to know that it's the Congress that stands for them,' Gandhi told reporters in his constituency of Amethi.
'We are not concerned about police action against us. We will work for the poor and you will see it, I want to make this clear.'
Asked if he held the Mayawati government responsible for the attack on Joshi's home soon after her arrest early Thursday, the Congress general secretary said: 'Whether the government instigated it or not, whether the police were involved... we are not bothered.
'Do-teen aur police action ho jaaye to koi nahi, hum garib ke liye kaam karenge (let there be a couple of more police cases, we are not worried, we will work for the poor),' Gandhi asserted.
He said his agenda was to improve the conditions of the poor in Uttar Pradesh irrespective of whether 'it is a Dalit, a Brahmin or a Muslim'.
Though Gandhi disapproved of Joshi's remarks against Mayawati, he strongly defended her.
'I can understand the anger in dealing with the Uttar Pradesh government that is not operational in the state. The words are wrong, but not the sentiment,' Gandhi said.
'The words used by Joshi were unfortunate... Congress president and the party have made it clear that we don't appreciate the words,' he added.
Joshi was arrested Wednesday night under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
She made the allegedly derogatory and sexist utterances while mocking at the state government for spending lakhs of rupees to fly its director-general of police in a helicopter to disburse Rs.