Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving several infrastructure projects such as ports, airports and defence contracts to businessman Gautam Adani over the last 10 years, and promised to “distribute money among the poor” if the Opposition INDIA bloc is voted to power in the ongoing general elections.
“Narendra Modi ji worked for people like Adani. For 10 years, Narendra Modi ji gave the country’s airports, ports, infrastructure, defence industry and all to Adani,” the Wayanad MP alleged at an election rally in Medak parliamentary constituency of Telangana.
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Gandhi’s remarks came a day after Modi at a poll rally in Telangana asked why he had stopped “abusing” Adani and Ambani in his attacks and whether his party received “maal” (money) from them in return. Hours later, however, the Congress leader hit back and dared Modi to initiate a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to find whether businessmen Adani and Ambani sent black money to his party.
Continuing his tirade against the PM on Thursday, Gandhi alleged that the country’s wealth worth lakhs of crores of rupees had gone into the hands of 22 billionaires. “If the Congress comes to power at the Centre, we shall work out a scheme for eradication of poverty in the country. We shall prepare the list of poor people and ₹1 lakh would be deposited in the bank accounts of a woman in every poor family. All these days, Modi distributed the country’s wealth among the corporates. Now, we shall distribute money among the poor,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Continuing his tirade against the PM on Thursday, Gandhi alleged that the country’s wealth worth lakhs of crores of rupees had gone into the hands of 22 billionaires. “If the Congress comes to power at the Centre, we shall work out a scheme for eradication of poverty in the country. We shall prepare the list of poor people and ₹1 lakh would be deposited in the bank accounts of a woman in every poor family. All these days, Modi distributed the country’s wealth among the corporates. Now, we shall distribute money among the poor,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}He also reiterated his allegation that the Modi government would abolish reservations if it returned to power for the third time. “The BJP wants to abolish reservations while Congress wants to increase them beyond 50 per cent. The Modi government is privatising public sector undertakings (PSUs) as part of the conspiracy to abolish reservations. The BJP’s intention is to privatize everything and abolish reservations,” he alleged.
Stating that the Constitution of India was in deep crisis, Gandhi said the only way to protect the Constitution was to bring the INDIA bloc to power. “Indian Constitution is not a mere book. It is the heartbeat of the people. It has given powers to the people. We shall go to any extent to protect this Constitution,” he said.
The Congress MP also assured the people that the party would implement all the guarantees it had promised in its election manifesto. “We shall take up caste surveys to identify the genuine figures of population of SCs, STs and OBCs, so that they would get due representation in all fields in proportion to their population,” he said.
Addressing a separate rally at Saroornagar in Hyderabad, Rahul Gandhi said millions of educated youth had remained unemployed during the Modi regime. “We are coming out with the slogan of “first job pucca.” After coming to power after June 4, we shall fill up 30 lakh government jobs by August 15,” he said.
He also promised that the Congress would waive crop loans, ensure minimum support price for the agriculture produce and enhance the wages of labourers to ₹400 per day under employment guarantee scheme.