BJP counters Rahul Gandhi, blames Congress for poverty

New Delhi: BJP on Tuesday said that the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is still talking about eradicating poverty 40 years after his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of “Garibi Hatao”.

A miffed BJP said Gandhi is thinking about the poor when it is at the end of UPA’s second term. BJP governments in states, it said, have not waited for elections to roll out pro-poor scheme.

“40 years ago, Indira Gandhi had given the slogan of ‘garibi hatao’. But today it is trying to provide food security to 2/3rd of the population through the Food Security Act,” Trivedi said, adding that this means only 34 percent of the population can meet its food requirements.

“This shows the incompetence and lack of foresight of this government,” Trivedi said. BJP claimed that Modi’s achievements as Chief Minister of Gujarat are well-known.

“As far as food security is concerned, Chhattisgarh was the first state to provide it to 90 percent of the population. This was followed by Madhya Pradesh. These states did not wait for the elections to draw near before providing food security as is being attempted by the Centre. They did so much before the polls,” Trivedi said.