Modi, Rahul trade barbs on Nyay scheme promise
ON RALLY SPREE PM, Cong chief raise poll pitch in southern states
KOLAR/THENI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday exchanged words around Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) scheme, the opposition party’s poll promise of a minimum annual income of ₹72,000 to India’s poorest people, at their election rallies in the southern states on Saturday.
The tagline of the Congress poll campaign is Ab Hoga Nyay, or now there will be justice.
At a rally in Theni in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, Modi said, “Even if they did not intend to, they have admitted that all they have done so far is “an-nyay” [injustice]. It means they agree that they did injustice to the nation for 60 long years.”
“Congress and dishonesty are best friends but sometimes, by mistake, they end up speaking the truth,” said PM Narendra Modi, who was campaigning in Tamil Nadu, where his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tied up with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam .
In turn, campaigning in Karnataka, Gandhi said that the 2019 Lok Sabha election was a fight between industrialist Anil Ambani and the ordinary people and between thieves and honest people. He said that money for the NYAY scheme will come from “[PM Modi’s] friend, Anil Ambani”.
Gandhi has targeted Anil Ambani over the Rafale jet
fighter purchase in which the latter’s Reliance Defence has won an offset deal from the plane maker Dassault Aviation.
Gandhi has alleged corruption in the deal. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government and Ambani’s company have denied any wrongdoing.
The prime minister was in Tamil Nadu to campaign for the upcoming elections on April 18, when polling for 39 Lok Sabha seats and 22 assembly seats (by-elections) is scheduled.
Gandhi, who visited the Jallianwala Bagh memorial in Amritsar on Saturday, held rallies in Karnataka later in the day.
Congress is in alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) for the upcoming polls in Karnataka. This is also the ruling coalition of Karnataka, which won the assembly elections held in May last year.