- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the Narendra Modi government at a rally in the state accusing it of starting hollow welfare schemes.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SENIOR Indian National Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday (26) criticised the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi accusing it of starting “hollow” welfare schemes. She targeted the Modi government while addressing a rally in Ardawata village in Jhunjhunu district of the poll-bound north-western state of Rajasthan where her party, which is in power in the state, promised an annual honorarium of Rs 10,000 (£99.2) to the state’s women heads of families.
At a public rally that was addressed by Gandhi Vadra, Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan who is seeking a consecutive mandate after 2018, promised two “guarantees” if the Congress is elected back to power. They are cooking-gas cylinders for Rs 500 (£5) to 1.05 crore (10.5 million) besides the honorarium.
It was the second rally that Gandhi Vadra attended in poll-bound Rajasthan inside a week.
The 51-year-old general secretary of the Congress targeted the Modi government to say that while a bill reserving women’s seats in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the Indian parliament and state assemblies has been passed in the parliament, its implementation will take a decade’s time.
Gandhi Vadra, son of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, also pointed out that 10 years have gone by since the state’s ambitious Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project was announced. The project is expected to augment irrigation facilities and address water problems in many parts of Rajasthan.
Taking a dig at the Modi government in New Delhi, Gandhi Vadra said the federal government’s schemes are hollow while those of the state’s Congress government are seeing the daylight.
Five states across India are going to polls in November, including Rajasthan, and they are being seen as the semi-final ahead of next year’s ‘final’ — the general elections. The Congress, which returned to power in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka in the last one year, is hoping to win more states to throw Modi a big challenge in the next year’s elections.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, is desperate to win back Rajasthan which generally goes with the anti-incumbency flow.
Results of the state elections will be announced on December 3.
