MANDYA, KOLAR: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said women from poor families in Karnataka will stand to get about Rs 10,500 per month if the Congress comes to power at the Centre. This includes Rs 2,000 already being paid out under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme.
Addressing a massive rally at the university grounds here, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress manifesto promises historical programmes for the youth. “We will implement an employment policy, train youths from poor families in big factories and give them jobs. We will expand the MGNREGS to urban areas and increase the honorarium for ASHA workers. We will scrap the contract employment system and provide employment guarantee with permanent jobs”, he said.
Taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the electoral bonds issue, the Wayanad MP said, “It is a big scam. The PM’s hands tremble and they have kept all information secret. The Supreme Court has also chastised them and told them to make all information public”, he said. “The BJP has extorted money from companies a day after CBI raids by threatening them. They are collectin ‘hafta’ and when it’s time to give answers, the PM’s hands tremble”, he said.
Rahul Gandhi also accused the media of siding with the BJP. “They are like the B-team of the BJP and both must be defeated. Congress party workers have to fight hard in this battle to ensure our victory. The I.N.D.I.A bloc is fighting the election to save the Constitution while the BJP is looking to destroy it. The BJP government works for some people only. During the Assembly election in Karnataka, we had announced five guarantess and we have implemented them”, he said.
Stating that farmers across the country are in distress, Rahul Gandhi said justice needs to be done with them and that the Congress was behind the farmers. “I listened to farmers’ woes all through the Bharat Jodo Yatra. They are not getting fair price for their produce and their loans are not being waived while the loans of the rich are waived. If the Congress comes, we will introduce legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) and waive loans of all farmers in the country. We will introduce the Gruha Lakshmi scheme across the country where women from poor families will get Rs 1 lakh per year”, he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah exuded confidence that the party will win the Mandya Lok Sabha seat. Deputy CM D K Shivakumar said the Congress won the Assembly seats wherever the Bharat Jodo Yatra traversed. “If we win Mandya, we will win India. Hence, Rahul Gandhi’s campaign has started from here”, he said.
Addressing another rally at Chokkandanahalli in Malur taluk of Kolar district, Rahul Gandhi noted that people who were once mining gold had now become labourers and farmers. He recalled that he had visited the mines as a boy when he had accompanied his grandmother Indira Gandhi, and met the mine workers.
“I learnt a lot about politics from my grandmother. When I was young, I did not even understand that she was teaching me many, many things about politics. Many people think politics is very complicated, they think you have to make all sorts of calculations, you have to plan, you have to think about many, many different things. But this was not Indira Gandhi’s way of doing politics. In all the lessons she taught me, there was actually one lesson, and with that one lesson, you can understand everything about politics. She said ‘Rahul, the leader has only one job and one technique. All the leader has to do is search carefully for unfairness, and where one sees unfairness, without any fear, without backing down, one must challenge that unfairness’. If you challenge unfairness, you will get hurt, you will get abused and attacked. The more abuse you are getting, the more attacks coming at you, the better you are doing your job”, he said.
Yet again, he targeted the media saying they don’t highlight the Centre’s wrongs or talk about unemployment and people’s problems. “I have an entire list of media houses and anchors who are trying to sway public opinion in favour of the central government. None of them are from the AHINDA grouping and hence, they won’t talk about the real problems of the country”, he said.
“If the Congress comes to power, we will conduct a nationwide caste census and economic survey. Is PM Modi for it, or against it? We don’t look at communities while giving jobs. Modi has messed up the employment scene in the country”, he concluded.