Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narender Modi for failing to provide aid to Himachal Pradesh following the last monsoon season’s disaster…reports Asian Lite News
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday appealed to the people of Himachal Pradesh to vote for the victory of all four Congress Lok Sabha candidates, while promising them that he and his sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will “be the voice” of the hill state in the national capital.
“Priyanka and I are your soldiers in Delhi, and we will raise the voice of Himachal Pradesh in the capital,” he said at a public meeting in Sirmaur district for the party’s Shimla Lok Sabha seat candidate.
Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narender Modi for failing to provide aid to Himachal Pradesh following the last monsoon season’s disaster, which affected over 22,000 families. He said the Union government has yet to release Rs 9,000 crore relief funds to the state.
Additionally, he accused PM Modi of colluding with big business, resulting in unfair prices for apple growers in Himachal. Gandhi charged the Prime Minister with “serving the interests of 20-25 wealthy individuals of the country” and “focused on making 22 people in the country millionaires”, alleging that Rs 16 lakh crore in loans for these individuals has been waived off over the past decade.
Gandhi criticised the media for ignoring issues like apple prices, and problems of farmers and labourers. He said the BJP government has devastated millions of small businesses through demonetisation and the mismanagement of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation. “Dreams of a select few are being fulfilled while the rest of the country looks on,” he said.
Congress state in-charge Rajiv Shukla, state party unit President Pratibha Singh, Congress candidate from Shimla Vinod Sultanpuri, Industries Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan, MLA Ajay Solanki and party officials and workers were present.
‘Bring change in country’
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday appealed to the electorates in Chandigarh to bring change in the country and also in their lives by electing the Congress-INDIA government.
Addressing a public rally in support of INDIA bloc candidate Manish Tewari, Priyanka Gandhi, countered the BJP’s charges that the Congress is anti-Hindu, saying the philosophy of the Congress is based on the teachings of the Bhagwadgita which teaches truth, love, harmony and non-violence.
She pointed out how Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only exploited the religious sentiments of people coupled with fake promises like depositing Rs 15 lakh in every Indian’s bank account, or providing two crore jobs every year and doubling the income of farmers.
Alleging that PM Modi has lowered the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister, she said no Prime Minister, irrespective of which party he or she belonged to, had talked the way PM Modi is talking.
She said, despite being in Opposition, leaders like her felt ashamed of what PM Modi is saying. “After all he is everybody’s Prime Minister,” she told a large crowd.
The Congress General Secretary said PM Modi always avoids talking about the pressing issues like unemployment, inflation and farmers’ plight.
She pointed out that unemployment is at its highest in the last 45 years with 70 crore jobless people in the country.
She referred to various guarantees of the Congress. She said every poor family would receive Rs 8,500 every month. She also announced that every fresh graduate will get a one-year apprenticeship with an assured income of Rs 1 lakh for that period.
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