Blaming the Mayawati government for various problems plaguing the people, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said "a sorry state of affairs" continued despite several crores of rupees being provided to Uttar Pradesh by the Centre.

"Though the Centre is providing crores and crores of rupees to the state for development and welfare schemes, I have been told about the problems like shortage of seeds, fertiliser and potable water being faced by the people of UP," she said at a meeting of party workers here.

Countering the chief minister's repeated allegation that the Centre was meting out step-motherly treatment to the state, Gandhi sarcastically said the attitude of the state government towards the development of Rae Bareli and Amethi was well known to everyone.

She asked party workers to work unitedly and raise their voice on development issues so that the benefit of the ongoing schemes reached the masses.

The Congress chief asked partymen to keep a close vigil on centrally-sponsored schemes to ensure that real people got benefit. She also asked party workers to discharge their social responsibilities sincerely and termed Congress as the "heart beat of the country.

Earlier, on the first day of her three-day visit to Rae Bareli, she inaugurated a newly constructed building of a sub-post office and paid tributes at Shaheed Smarak to martyrs who laid down their lives during the freedom movement.