Jaipur, Oct 25: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the BJP-led Centre on Wednesday over its “hollow” welfare schemes while addressing a rally where her party promised an annual honorarium of Rs 10,000 to the women heads of families in Rajasthan.
At a public rally addressed by Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot promised two “guarantees” if the Congress is re-elected in the state – cooking gas cylinders for Rs 500 to 1.05 crore families and an annual honorarium of Rs 10,000 to the woman head of a family.
The rally was organised at Ardawata village in Jhunjhunu district. It was the second rally of Gandhi in poll-bound Rajasthan within a week.
The Congress general secretary said a bill for women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies has been passed in Parliament, but it will take 10 years to implement it.
She also pointed out that 10 years have gone by since the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) was announced.
The ERCP is an ambitious project that will help augment the irrigation facilities in an area of around 2 lakh hectares and address the drinking water problems of 13 districts in eastern Rajasthan.
“Their (Centre’s) schemes are hollow, whereas the schemes of the Congress government (in Rajasthan) are being implemented on the ground,” Gandhi said.
She said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has understood that talking about religions and castes during polls will get votes for it.
“The Centre tries to suppress people. It only wants to be in power and secure its future,” Gandhi said.
She also alleged that the BJP-led Centre is running for a select few industrialists and there is no hearing of public issues in this government.
She asked the people to wake up to this or else, this system will not come to an end.
She also said the announcements of the Narendra Modi government and BJP are hollow and empty.
Gandhi took a jibe at Prime Minister Modi and referred to an incident which she said she saw on television and which could be true or false.
She said Modi went to the Devnarayan temple in Bhilwara and dropped an envelope in the donation box, which was opened six months later by the priest in the presence of other people only to find that it contained Rs 21.
The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will go to polls on November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3. (PTI)
