After maintaining a stoic silence over the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in active politics, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday took a swipe at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for his promise of providing a minimum income to poor.
She wondered whether it was another cruel joke like the promises of ‘garibi hatao’ by Congress in the 1970’s or ‘achhe din’ promised by Narendra Modi.
Attacking the Congress chief’s allurement to the poor of providing a guaranteed minimum income to everyone, the BSP chief advised Rahul to first implement schemes related to poverty alleviation and welfare of people in Congress-ruled states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh so that people’s faith was restored.
“The Congress promise just before Lok Sabha elections of guaranteed minimum income has led to surprise and created doubts among countrymen,” Mayawati said in a press statement issued in Lucknow on Tuesday.
“The record of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress has not been good so far poll promises are concerned. Even if some of them (promises) have been implemented, they have proved to be mere eyewash. Both these parties should not make promises which they cannot fulfil,” the BSP chief said.
“People of the country have tested both the Congress and the BJP in the last 72 years and hence the BSP appeals that they should believe a party which works more and makes less claims and promises,” she said.
On Monday, Rahul Gandhi had said his party would ensure guaranteed minimum income for every poor in the country if it returned to power after Lok Sabha polls in April-May this year.