Lok Sabha polls 2019: Congress and BJP war of words over ‘Nyay’ continues

NEW DELHI: The war of words between the Congress and ruling BJP sharpened over Nyay, the opposition party’s minimum income guarantee scheme. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday compared the promise of Rs 72,000 per year for the poor with PM Modi’s “unfulfilled promise of Rs 15 lakh in every bank account.”

At a rally in Rajasthan, Gandhi trained his guns on PM Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and finance minister Arun Jaitley, saying that the BJP-led central government could write off loans to the tune of Rs 3.17 lakh crore but was finding fault with the Congress’ pro-poor promise.

In Delhi, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala lashed out at Modi calling him “gareeb virodhi” (anti-poor). Speaking a day after Gandhi made the promise after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in the Capital, Surjewala alleged it was “shameful” that the “pro-rich” PM Modi was opposing the world’s biggest anti-poverty scheme. The Congress leader also attacked Jaitley for dubbing the scheme a “bluff announcement”.


Surjewala also attacked NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar and dubbed the body he headed “rajneeti ayog”, advising him to run the organisation from the BJP office and contest elections. “Rs 72,000 would be deposited directly in the bank account of the woman of the family. Modi government’s Economic Survey 2016-17 accepted that India under the Congress reduced poverty. Poverty which was 70% during Independence came down to just 22% in 2011-12. With the path-breaking ‘Nyay’, the Congress will now eradicate the remaining 20% poverty too,” he said.