BJP counters Rahul Gandhi, blames Congress for poverty

New Delhi: Countering Rahul Gandhi’s attack on Narendra Modi, BJP on Tuesday said the Congress Vice President is still talking about eradicating poverty 40 years after his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of “Garibi Hatao”. “It is a little strange and a travesty that Rahul Gandhi is enumerating the problems of the nation after nearly ten years of Congress rule in the country. This is indeed unfortunate,” BJP spokesperson Sudanshu Trivedi said. [caption id=“attachment_1115677” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] Speaking at a rally in Rajasthan, Gandhi had said that while others make tall claims, Congress works to resolve the problems of the poor and spoke of food security scheme among other measures. This was an oblique reference to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who had addressed a rally in the poll-bound state last week. 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 per cent 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 per cent 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. PTI