Bhubaneswar: Rahul Gandhi on Sunday assured Odisha that the Congress would provide employment to the poor and the youth and give Rs 2,000 per month to women if voted to power.
The Congress leader also took a dig at both the BJP and the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) while launching his party’s campaign in the state. He addressed a rally at Kuliapadia in Salepur, about 50km from state capital Bhubaneswar.
The attendance at Salepur — a venue carefully chosen to highlight the legacy of Madhusudan Das, one of the modern architects of Odisha — was extremely encouraging for the Congress. Rahul also visited the birthplace of Das at Satyabhamapur as the state celebrated Das’s birth anniversary on Sunday.
Rahul said the BJP and the BJD have “married” and the product of this alliance is “PANN” (Pandian-Amit-Narendra-Naveen). V. Karthikeyan Pandian, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, is running the BJD’s campaign on behalf of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
“Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi is running the government with 22 billionaires, Naveenji is governing the state with a few selected people,” he said while accusing the state government of indulging in scams such as ₹9 lakh crore mining scam and ₹15,000 crore plantation scam.
“We are committed to refunding all this money looted from the people if we come to power at the Centre. Modi-Naveen have made 22 people billionaires but we will make crores of people lakhpatis if our party is voted to power. We will prepare a list of poor people in the country and one woman from each such family will receive one lakh from the Centre through DBT. Every month they will get ₹8,500,” Rahul said.
Underscoring the need for employment, Rahul said: “Naveen Patnaik gave you “PANN” but we will provide apprenticeship for one year to the unemployed youth. Our government would launch a scheme called “Pahle Naukri Pakki” (guaranteed employment first) both in public and private sectors.”
Rahul also batted for the rights of tribals. “We will guarantee them rights over jal, jamin and jungle. They are Adivasis and have the first right over these things. This government has turned them into vanvasis, depriving them of their rights. We are going to change this,” he asserted.
Stating that the farmers will receive the minimum support price for their produce, Rahul said: “If the party is voted to power we will provide ₹3,000 per quintal of rice as MSP. We will also give ₹2,000 to women and ₹3,000 to unemployed youths every month.”
He also promised 200 free units of electricity and LPG for ₹500.
Asserting that the Congress’s track record speaks for itself, he said: “If you want to know what we have done, ask people in Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. People have made up their minds. They will throw out both the BJP and the BJD like they blew away the BRS in Telangana.”
The Congress assured to waive off loans of farmers, double the remuneration of Asha and Anganwadi workers and increase the MGNREGA wage to ₹400.
The BJD said Rahul’s visit would have no impact in the state. “It may help boost the morale of the Congress workers but nothing else,” said BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra. Later in the evening, Pandian visited Satyabhamapur and paid floral tributes to
Madhusudan Das.
