The Rajasthan assembly election campaign is in the final stages. In the midst of this, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge visited Anupgarh and Hanumangarh on Monday. Kharge addressed a public meeting in Anupgarh in support of party candidate Shimla Nayak, where he highlighted the Congress government’s schemes and guarantees. Kharge also attacked the BJP and the Prime Minister in the public meeting. He sarcastically said that the Prime Minister is holding election meetings in Rajasthan these days, but he has stopped repeating old things.
On Monday, Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted Congress’s seven guarantees for economic empowerment dedicated to the progress and prosperity of Rajasthan as part of the Congress manifesto in the state. Addressing a rally in Anupgarh, Rajasthan, the party chief said that Congress is completely dedicated to the progress and prosperity of Rajasthan.
“The Congress party’s social justice schemes and seven guarantees of economic empowerment are eradicating inequality in Rajasthan and will make Rajasthan more prosperous,” Kharge added.
Kharge further mentioned that the Congress party’s guarantee manifesto for Rajasthan includes giving Rs 10,000 every year to the female head of the family under the Griha Lakshmi Yojana guarantee, procuring cow dung at Rs 2 kg under the Gowdhan guarantee and giving free laptops and tablets to first-year government college students. In addition to this, the guarantee included giving access to English-medium schools, giving gas cylinders at as low as Rs 500, and promising to return the old pension scheme for government employees.
The Congress government, which recently came to power in the southern state of Karnataka, had promised a series of guarantees to its voters in the run-up to the polls.
The Congress President also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not giving due credit to Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, noting that it was they who built big infrastructure and educational institutions, among others.
Kharge said, “The Congress Party is engaged in the service of the country. We have great leaders like Indira in our party, who sacrificed their lives. Rajiv Gandhi gave his life for the unity of this country. So there are people who give their lives in Congress and there are people who take their lives in BJP. Only Congress has done all the work in this country. If anyone brought the Green Revolution to this country, it was the Congress Party. Modi Ji only collects headlines. They say we did everything but it is not like that.”
“PM Modi often speaks against the ideologies of Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. They never even accept the works of Indira Gandhi,” Kharge said in a poll rally in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh.
“The truth is that Congress has built everything from big dams to engineering and medical colleges in this country. Congress has also brought the Green Revolution into the country. Whereas, the Modi government is ruining this country,” Kharge added.
Regarding his recent speech relating to PM Modi, he said, “I had given a speech in Hyderabad, in which I had said that Modi Saheb lies again and again and is the leader of liars. Then he objected and said that Kharge ji repeatedly calls me the leader of liars. He also said that he took my father’s name. I did not take his father’s name because there is no use in talking about an elder who is not in politics. But he says that Kharge ji is not leaving his father also. Where have I caught his father? But they turn the matter upside down like this. I had said that Modi Saheb has told so many lies and Telangana CM Chandrashekhar is his father in telling lies, but Modi Ji is saying that he has told me to spread such lies. This is also their lie. Add this also in the sentence.”
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also attacked the BJP-led Central Government over its excise duty policy, accusing it of being unfair to the states and the people of the country and saying, “They are cheating the people of the country”.
Gehlot said that the basic excise duty, which is distributed to the states, has almost been eliminated. In its place, the Central Government has introduced new excise duties, including additional excise duties 1, 2, and Cess, which are not being distributed to the states. He accused the Central Government of diverting all the money into the Centre’s account, thereby depriving the states of their rightful share.
Comparing BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh with Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot said that the excise duty in Madhya Pradesh is higher than in Rajasthan. He asserted, “The excise duty in Madhya Pradesh is higher than in Rajasthan. The prices of petrol and diesel are higher in MP, but they will not compare this…They need to bring down the excise duty.”
Further, the Congress leader alleged, “All the BJP leaders, PM Modi, and Union Ministers keep saying almost the same thing all through the day. They will not talk about what we did for the public and what we could not do in the last 5 years.” Rajasthan is set to undergo assembly polls on November 25 and the counting of votes will be done on December 3.
