Saturday, September 30 2006 15:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Stepping up her offensive against the UP Government ahead of assembly polls, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has declared that time has come to "throw out" the Mulayam Singh Yadav government to 'save' the state.

"The people of Uttar Pradesh are fed up with destructive rule of the Mulayam Singh government," she said in the latest issue of Congress Sandesh, adding non-Congress governments cannot manage UP.

Noting it was "not a political duty, but a patriotic responsibility" to expose non-Congress parties before the people, Gandhi said the basic problem with non-Congress governments was that they were "temporary outfits crafted only to enjoy power without any commitment whatsoever to people".

"States ruled by certain parties and opportunistic alliances are degenerating into lawlessness and backwardness," she said in a letter to Congress workers.

"Uttar Pradesh is a typical example. The state which was once forward looking and had an important place in economic development is today in a dismal condition," Gandhi said.

Regretting that crime had become a "thriving industry" in UP, she said communalism and casteism were dictating state government's approach to issues concerning everyone.

Gandhi emphasised the need for party workers to educate people about the "seasonal" nature of these political outfits.

"These parties which have no worthwhile agenda of action are a great hindrance to the progress of the nation," she said.

"We also cannot afford to tolerate these parties some of which seek electoral mandate on communal plank," Gandhi said in an apparent reference to BJP.