Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met Sreedhanya Suresh, the first tribal woman from Kerala to clear the Civil Services examination, at the guest house at Sulthan Bathery and had lunch with her.
Addressing an election rally in Wayanad district, Mr. Gandhi said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Congress’s pet scheme, had helped the 22-year-old woman make it to the Civil Services as her parents, who are workers, had benefited from the scheme.
Hailing from a poor background in Wayanad, Ms. Sreedhanya had bagged the 410th rank in the Civil Services examination, 2018.
“She is self-confident and a woman who confronted adversities,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his criticism of the MGNREGS, the Congress chief said it was the initiative launched by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that had helped Ms. Sreedhanya crack the top examination.
“She said because her parents worked in the MGNREGS, she could appear for the Civil Services examination,” Mr. Gandhi said, adding that he had lunch with the proud woman.
The MGNREGS had created one Sreedhanya and thousands of Sreedhanyas would be created in Kerala and other southern States through NYAY, the minimum income guarantee scheme proposed by the Congress if voted to power, Mr. Gandhi said.
