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Chandigarh: Tewari reaffirms INDIA bloc’s promise of double ration, ₹8,500 to every poor family
Listing various guarantees of his party and the INDIA bloc, Tewari challenged the BJP to count one single matching guarantee that will directly benefit the needy
Congress candidate from Chandigarh Manish Tewari on Thursday said the INDIA bloc government will double the free ration from 5 kg to 10 kg, besides paying every poor family in the country ₹8,500 every month.
“Note down the date: July 1, 2024. This will start happening,” he asserted while addressing a series of public meetings in various localities as part of his campaigning.
Listing various guarantees of his party and the INDIA bloc, he challenged the BJP to count one single matching guarantee that will directly benefit the needy.
He added that under the INDIA bloc government, each and every poor family in the country will receive a direct monthly cash assistance of ₹8,500. The money, he said, will be directly transferred into the bank account of one woman member of the family.
Replying to a question on whether such schemes will drain the economy, Tewari remarked, “It’s in fact the other way around, as this scheme will jump-start the economy by increasing the buying capacity of people, which will create demand for goods and lead to production of goods. This means more manufacturing by industries and more jobs, thus completing an economic cycle.”
‘Tandon too small for Kharge and Rahul’
Replying to a question regarding BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon’s remark that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi had not come to Chandigarh to campaign for him, Tewari said he himself was enough to defeat him.
“Tandon will need at least two terms in the Parliament to qualify for the attention of Kharge and Gandhi,” Tewari remarked, while adding, “He seems to have quite an exaggeratedly ambitious opinion of himself that will get deflated on June 4.”
‘Will bring down LPG cylinder prices’
Addressing an all-women gathering “Nyay Sammellan” at Congress Bhawan in Sector 35, Tewari hit out at the BJP for increasing the rate of gas cylinders by 400% in its 10-year regime.
All India Mahila Congress national president Alka Lamba also addressed the gathering, mostly comprising women from the voter-rich colonies of the city.
“Whenever the Congress increased prices of gas cylinders, the women leaders of the BJP, who used to be in the Opposition, would protest on roads with cylinders. But when the BJP came to power in 2014, they forgot everything and themselves increased the prices of gas cylinders by a huge percentage, reducing women to tears,” said Tewari. He assured that the INDIA bloc government will bring down the prices of gas cylinders once voted to power on June 4.
“This is my fourth Lok Sabha election. However, this is the first time that women are coming out in such large numbers with the Congress, primarily due to rising inflation. The BJP government has burnt a hole in consumers’ pockets,” he said.
On this occasion, Lamba said the Congress was today fighting to save the country and the Constitution. Referring to the repeated incidents of women harassment in the country in the last 10 years, Lamba said despite the rape allegations levelled by women wrestlers and shameful incidents in Manipur, the Prime Minister sharing the stage with these leaders reflected that women were no longer safe in this country.
