Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi targeted the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government but spared the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in his speech at an election rally here on Monday.
While urging people to give Naveen Patnaik a break from governing Odisha, Gandhi said the money looted from the people would be ploughed back to their pockets if the Congress is voted to power in the State. He said it is time now for Patnaik to “take rest.”
Odisha has received the maximum Central funds during the last ten years of the UPA regime, but most of the money has been siphoned by the State’s ruling BJD, he said, adding that Odisha, despite its rich natural resources, has become the country’s poorest State due to the BJD Government's non-performance.
Gandhi said, “This election is a fight between two ideologies. While the Congress is for industries and development with its benefits reaching the common man and the poor, the BJD stands for the profits earned through industries going to a select few.”
Gandhi said the Congress is for guaranteed rights to the poor and cited the Right to Food Act enacted by the UPA Government to make his point. He said that if voted to power, the Congress would ensure free medicines and healthcare for the poor and pucca houses for all guaranteed by an Act of the Parliament.
He also assured that special welfare measures would be launched for the 70 crore people belonging to the lower middle class, if the Congress comes to power. These people who are above the BPl category but below the middle class include those like electricians, carpenters, workers, farmers, etc, he said.
The Congress has always been for the farmers and the UPA had waived loans to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore to save the farmers from their loan burden, recalled Gandhi.
He said the Congress intends to turn India into a manufacturing hub like China with manufacturing corridors extending from Delhi to Mumbai to Bengaluru with the nation's youth playing a key role in building the Made in India/Made in Odisha brands, thus ensuring jobs for Odisha's youth.