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Will take all of Opposition along, says Rahul Gandhi in Patna rally
Rahul Gandhi said the Centre’s announcement of providing a direct income of Rs 6,000 to marginalised farmers’ families every year was an insult as it translated to only Rs 3.5 per day to individuals in such households.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday his party will give loan waivers to farmers across the country if voted to power, as he launched an election pitch from Patna’s Gandhi Maidan and called for “like-minded” Opposition parties to unite against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing the Congress’s first rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan in about three decades, Gandhi criticised announcements made in the interim budget and praised Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav for his dynamism. The Congress president’s father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had addressed a rally at the venue in 1989.
Gandhi said the Centre’s announcement of providing a direct income of Rs 6,000 to marginalised farmers’ families every year was an insult as it translated to only Rs 3.5 per day to individuals in such households.
“We will together fight the Lok Sabha elections and then install a Grand Alliance (GA) government in Bihar also. There is not much time left for Nitish Kumar, as the Opposition is ready to replace him,” Gandhi said at the Jan Akanksha rally. He said Yadav was a young politician who led by example and delivered on his promises.
The remarks came after Yadav praised the 48-year-old and said he had all the qualities to be the next Prime Minister of the country.
The RJD leader, however, added that it was important for the Congress to take all allies along for the general elections.
About two dozen Opposition parties plan to hold joint symposiums on key issues such as jobs and farmers’ plight across the country in their latest campaign against the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after Parliament’s budget session ends on February 13.
“We will deliver what we promise, as our party’s track record vouches for,” Gandhi said.
