The BJP on Wednesday refuted allegations of political vendetta against the Congress after the Union government instituted an inter-ministerial group to go into any irregularities in the funding of the Congress-linked Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF).
BJP general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao in a presser said orders for the probe were a “natural outcome” of the information recently brought out into the public domain. “The government would not have waited for six years to order a probe if it had been at all politically motivated,” said Mr. Rao.
He also accused the party of not behaving in a “responsible manner” as an Opposition. “During 1948, 1962, 1965, 1971 wars, we’ve [BJP] behaved as Opposition, not as enemy to the government. We in no way have given any kind of direct/indirect strength to enemy countries. Today, Modi govt. is taking care of the poor, economy, growth while giving a model leadership to the world,” he said.
While nobody is denying the crisis posed by COVID-19 , Mr. Rao said the government has identified challenges and begun addressing them in a “360 degree manner”.
“To help farmers, 70.32 lakh kisan credit cards have been sanctioned with a credit limit of ₹62,870 crore out of ₹2 lakh crore concessional credit under the ‘Atmanirbhar’ package, he said. This will benefit 2.5 crore farmers, including fishermen and dairy farmers,” he said.
Mr. Rao said free ration scheme for over 80 crore poor people has been extended till November while over ₹64.5 thousand crore has been distributed among 40 crore people under various welfare measures.
“As many as 20 States have already come on board for one nation one ration care scheme, which will ensure that beneficiaries can get their share of free grains in any part of the country,” he said.
The employment and development of the poor is most important for our government, he said, noting that an employment scheme has been started in six States which have large migrant population.
