Congress committed to strong Lokpal: Rahul

TARN TARAN (PUNJAB): Vowing to bring in a strong Lokpal, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today said that his party was committed to the upliftment of poor, farmers and common man.

"It (Congress) introduced a bill for a strong Lokpal...a strong lokpal is a dream of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi...Congress is committed to ameliorate common man, the poor and farmers," Rahul said at an election rally in this border town of Punjab.

Accusing opposition NDA of scuttling Lokpal, he said that a strong Lokpal is a dream of our youth.

Referring to BJP leader L K Advani's 'Jan Chetna Yatra', the congress general secretary asked did he (Advani) not see prevalence of corruption in Punjab, Chattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul said that farmers would be benefit immensely by Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) in the retail sector.

"The Congress is of the opinion that farmers should get much more for their produce than what they are getting now," he said adding that the party introduced a bill in the Parliament on land acquisition so that farmers were benefited after their land was acquired.

Taking a dig at the SAD-BJP, he said they acquire farmers land but do not provide remunerative prices for the acquisition.