Two days before the first round of Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav held Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP to account for the alleged corrupt practices in the electoral bond scheme.
Addressing the first joint press conference with the SP head after the INDIA alliance was forged, Mr. Gandhi on Wednesday described Mr. Modi as the “champion of corruption”. At the same time, Mr. Yadav said the “moral bubble” of the BJP had burst after the revelations in the electoral bond scheme . “The wind that starts from Ghaziabad today will sweep the BJP away from the State. Ghaziabad se lekar Ghazipur tak safaya hoga. NDA will be defeated by PDA ,” he declared, referring to the party’s agenda to bring together backwards, Dalits and minorities.
Calling the scheme an extortion racket, Mr. Gandhi alleged that an analysis of the scheme showed that those who got the government contracts bought the bonds within a few days of the award. The CBI-ED inquiry was withdrawn against those who invested in electoral bonds. “It is called extortion on the streets,” he charged. Mr. Yadav said the way the BJP was bringing the corrupt under its umbrella, it showed the party had become the “godown of corruption.”
‘A flop show’
Mr. Gandhi described Mr. Modi’s interview to a news agency where the Prime Minister defended the electoral bond scheme a “flop show”. “If the electoral bonds were brought for transparency and cleanse the politics, then why did the Supreme Court cancel it.”
The SP and the Congress have come together after the debacle of the 2017 Assembly polls in the State.
Mr. Gandhi sidestepped the question of contesting from Amethi saying the central election committee of the party would take a call on it. He said he open-heartedly joined hands with the SP and that’s the reason the party was contesting in 17 seats. “We have released our separate manifestos but if an alliance partner comes up with a suggestion we are open to incorporating it,” he said.
Earlier, Mr. Gandhi said the upcoming election was a contest between two ideologies: the BJP and the RSS who want to destroy the Constitution, and the INDIA alliance that was committed to defending it.
He charged the BJP for distracting the electorate from the issues of unemployment, inflation, and participation by indulging in gimmicks. Mr. Gandhi felt the public could see through it and opined the BJP would come down to 150 seats.
Eradication of poverty
On Mr. Modi’s jibe at Mr. Gandhi on the issue of eradication of poverty, the Congress leader said no one was saying that poverty could be removed overnight but it could be checked. “In Modi rule the country’s wealth got concentrated in the hands of a few. Today 22-25 people hold as much money as 70 crore Indians. This is one of the reasons for poverty.” Mr. Gandhi said he had raised the issue of caste census. “In any institution, you will not find a fair representation of backward people, Scheduled Castes, Tribes, and the poor in the general category.”
He said the party’s promise in the manifesto to bring a law on the right to apprenticeship for youth, ₹1 lakh to poor women, and a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) would help reduce the economic disparity.
Diving into the perceived internal tussle of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Yadav said it was no longer the double engine government. “The hoardings of the BJP across Uttar Pradesh display the photo of just one person. Even the candidates are absent from the hoardings.”
Describing the BJP as the party of “loot and jhoot [falsehood] that hasn’t fulfilled the promises made to the farmers and youth,” Mr. Yadav also brought up the issue of 10 examination papers getting leaked in the State. He said it affected the lives of 60 lakh youth and their families across the State. “It means the vote of the BJP will drop by 2.5 lakh in each constituency,” he claimed.
Mr. Yadav addressed the charge of the dynastic party by asking the BJP to release the list of its candidates who have family background in politics and not to seek votes from those who have families.
Mr. Yadav and Mr. Gandhi will hold a joint rally in Amroha on April 20. On the late start of the campaign, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai told The Hindu that the BJP government had created a situation in which the Congress didn’t have funds to mount a campaign. “The public is fighting on our behalf,” he said.
