RANCHI - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Thursday targeted the non-Congress ruled state governments for their tardy implementation of a rural jobs scheme and the rising Maoist problem.

The Congress-led central government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGs) was pro-poor but could work only if state governments implemented it properly, Gandhi told reporters here. He was on a two-day visit to Jharkhand.

“In Congress-ruled states like Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam and in other states, it is implemented well but there are other states where it is not. There is no chance of corruption eroding the scheme if the state government intends to implement it well,” He maintained.

Citing the example of Uttar Pradesh, he said the state government was not taking the programme seriously.

“The central government designs programmes and sends money and can put pressure on state governments to a certain extent. If the state government is not interested, then we cannot do much,” he pointed out.

Reiterating that the central government’s aim has always been to help the poor, Gandhi said: “In all the states where the Congress is in power, the focus is on the poor. Whether it is the mid-day meal scheme in schools, the Right to Information Act, NREGA or the universal ID programme, our focus is on the common man.”

Gandhi also blamed the Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh governments for the Maoist problem but did not view the issue as a civil war. While Jharkhand is under president’s rule, the other two are non-Congress governments.

He said that while the Maoists were a law and order problem, the state governments were not implementing programmes meant to uplift the poor.

On the problem of price rise, Gandhi said this was the state government’s responsibility.

Gandhi also asserted that he believed in a democratic set-up and was trying to bring democracy to the Congress’ youth organisations.

“In the next two years, the Youth Congress and the NSUI (National Student’s Union of India) will become democratically elected organisations. We have to end the nomination culture in both organisations. I have taken revolutionary steps to promote youth in politics,” he said.

During the two days he was here, Gandhi visited nine of Jharkhand’s 24 districts, the majority of which are tribal and Dalit dominated and are where Maoist rebels have a strong presence.