Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “copying” the Congress manifesto.
Addressing a rally in Korba district of Chhattisgarh, Mr. Gandhi said, “They (BJP) said the same things in their manifesto which we have promised in our manifesto. We promised the right to health. We began construction of manufacturing corridor and decided to implement ‘one rank one pension policy' for armed forces. They (BJP) just put up a lotus on the document and published it".
The Congress vice president also targeted the BJP for not taking people into confidence while making its manifesto and said that only one person in the BJP decided everything.
Calling the 2014 election “a battle of ideologies” Mr. Gandhi said the Congress party stood for development, industrialisation, construction of roads and production of electricity but believed that the poor should also benefit from it.
Equating the “Chhattisgarh model” with the “Gujarat model” Mr. Gandhi lashed out at the BJP government in the state for neglecting “the poor”.
“Chhattisgarh is a rich state with poor people because the people of Chhattisgarh do not get benefits of development but only select few get it” claimed Mr. Gandhi.
Criticising the “Gujarat model” the Congress vice-president said, “Modi has given farmers’ land in Gujarat to industrialists at throwaway prices. One person was given 45000 acres of farmland at the rate of Rs.1 per meter. Every second child in Gujarat is hungry. Lakhs of families are below poverty line. Over 40 percent people don’t have drinking water and they say Gujarat is shining”.
Promising free health care, accommodation and pension to elders, Mr. Gandhi also claimed that his party fought for the tribals in Niyamgiri.
