Will Launch Surgical Strike on Poverty if Voted to Power, Rahul Says at Andhra Rally

Hyderabad: Reiterating his promise to provide special category status to Andhra Pradesh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said he 'would not make false promises like Prime Minister Narendra Modi.'

Speaking at an election rally in Gannavaram, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would conduct a surgical strike on poverty by implementing Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) that would ensure an annual income of Rs 72,000 to five crore poor families or about 25 crore people.

The Gandhi scion also hit out at key opposition leader in Andhra Pradesh and YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy for the several corruption and criminal cases against him. Reddy would not do anything for the state after coming to power, the Congress chief said.

Sticking to his ‘Garibi Hathao’ (eradicate poverty) slogan, which was once synonymous with his grandmother and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Congress chief said NYAY would help poor people live respectably.

“Though the BJP government has failed to put Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of every citizen by recovering black money stashed abroad as promised, we will implement the new scheme,” he said.

He also took a dig at Modi for helping businessman Anil Ambani and swindling funds worth crores through the Rafale deal, besides helping corrupt businessmen like Nirav Modi and Vijay Malya escape.

Attacking the Modi-led government for take poor people for a ride through the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which Gandhi referred to as Gabbar Singh Tax, he said the new taxation system had devastated the country’s economy and only helped rich and fraudulent individuals.

The Modi regime had belittled the Constitution and diluted laws brought in by the Congress that offered four times the market rate of lands belonging to Dalits and tribal communities.

Stating that the BJP government had weakened several other pro-farmer, poor acts introduced by the UPA, Gandhi said only a Congress dispensation could help solve the problems of farmers, minorities and Dalits.

The nation, at present, was being treated as a particular party’s personal property, he added.​