‘Food, water more important than roads for common man’

Playing the pro-tribal and pro-poor card, All India Congress Committee (AICC) vice-president Rahul Gandhi said his party thinks providing food, water and shelter to common man is more important than providing roads and electricity.

Playing the pro-tribal and pro-poor card, All India Congress Committee (AICC) vice-president Rahul Gandhi said his party thinks providing food, water and shelter to common man is more important than providing roads and electricity.

Addressing a gathering of about 5,000 people, mostly tribals and farmers here on Wednesday, Rahul said the Congress believes in hand-holding the poor to break the wall, which prevents them from raising their socio economic status.

“When we launched MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the Bharatiya Janata Party asked where will the money come from? We want to ask them where is the money earned from (illegal) sand mining going?” he said hinting at BJP leaders and MP ministers’alleged involvement in illegal mining.

“Building roads, railways and airports,” he added, “will not serve the purpose unless the poor get food and water.”

“It is not that we do not create infrastructure. But the opposition’s thinking is that you make roads and everything will be all right...(but) the poor don’t get benefit from the roads,” he said.

Lashing out at the BJP, he said that Opposition believes that by introducing food bill, the Centre is making them worthless.