Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 26 April, shared the stage with RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav for the first time after the general elections were announced at a rally in the north Bihar town of Samastipur.
Praising Gandhi at the rally, Lalu Yadav’s son appealed to make him the prime minister.
“Please make Rahul ji prime minister as not only does he talk about the poor, he also doesn’t have any problem meeting them, unlike our Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has time to attend Priyanka Chopra’s reception but can’t visit a poor man’s home.”Tejashwi Yadav, as quoted by NDTV.
Meanwhile, the Congress president called his party’s NYAY scheme a surgical strike on poverty, and asserted that the proposed minimum income guarantee programme was not populist but based on sound economics. He also reportedly told the crowd that the scheme would have the maximum number of beneficiaries in the state.
Gandhi also sought to allay apprehensions of the middle-class, saying he guaranteed that the salaried people will have to pay not a single paisa from their pockets to fund the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme. Gandhi declared that the scheme will be funded entirely with the money that “thieves” like Anil Ambani “plunder” with Modi’s help.
The scheme was endorsed by Tejashwi Yadav at the rally too.
Gandhi also deplored the insulting treatment meted out to Lalu Prasad, the jailed supremo of his alliance partner and warned the BJP-led coalition of a backlash in the polls.
Gandhi commenced his nearly 25-minute-long speech with an apology for turning up late because of a snag in his aircraft. He also sought to underscore that all the constituents of the Grand Alliance (mahagathbandhan) in Bihar – Congress, RJD, RLSP, HAM and VIP – were part of a cohesive whole and urged voters to ensure the victory of mahagathbandhan in all seats.
The coming together of Yadav and Gandhi on the same platform came after the former had reportedly skipped three rallies of the latter.
Former state minister Ashok Ram of Congress is pitted against Ramchandra Paswan, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's brother, at Samastipur (SC, reserved seat), which goes to polls on 29 April in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
(With inputs from PTI and NDTV.)
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