Rahul Gandhi on Saturday taunted Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that changing one’s address to “Lok Kalyan Marg” doesn’t ensure people’s welfare, as the Congress chided the Centre for endorsing a cut in the interest rate on the employees’ provident fund deposits for 2021-22.
Rahul’s jibe came a day after the Centre approved a decision to fix the PF interest rate at 8.1 per cent, the lowest since it was 8 per cent in 1977-78.
A few years ago, Race Course Road, on which the Prime Minister’s bungalow is located, was renamed Lok Kalyan Marg, which means People’s Welfare Street.
The Congress MP posted a chart showing the decline from 8.8 per cent in 2015-16 along with a message: “People’s welfare is not ensured by changing the residence address to Lok Kalyan Marg. The Prime Minister has launched a ‘mahngai badhao-kamai ghatao’ (increase prices, reduce incomes) model to destroy the future of 6.5 crore government employees.”
The finance ministry has approved the decision by the EPFO Central Board of Trustees to reduce the interest rate on PF accounts from the existing 8.5 per cent to 8.1 per cent. The trade unions had opposed the proposal.
“This is not mere interest rate cut to the lowest level in 40 years. It is an attack on the average Indian’s savings,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted.
“LIC has been pushed into uncertainty after being privatised. This cut with runaway inflation, joblessness and only concern for big corporates hurts 99% of India.”
Rahul, who has been asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on the rescheduled date of June 13 in the National Herald case, will return to India on Sunday amid tumult in the party.
While MLAs from Rajasthan and Haryana have had to be kept in hiding to avoid poaching ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, a crisis has hit the Punjab Congress with five senior leaders, including former ministers and MLAs, defecting to the BJP on Saturday.
The Congress has suffered a blow in poll-bound Gujarat with former party chief and key leader Bharatsinh Solanki having to take a break from politics.
Solanki was forced to withdraw from public life after video clips went viral showing his estranged wife raiding a house where he lived with his young girlfriend.
Solanki told the media that his wife, who has been living separately for a long time, was harassing the younger woman and that he had moved for divorce.
The controversy, coming ahead of the Assembly elections that are due in December, will worry the Congress leadership.
