Pakhanjore, NOV 09 :
Launching a tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged both of them never do anything without seeking permission of their industrialist friends.
Days before the first-phase of voting in Chhattisgarh on November 12, Gandhi also accused Modi and Singh of making “false” and “unfulfilled” promises.
Speaking at a poll rally at Pt Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium in Pakhanjore town in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, Gandhi said, “Bastar is rich in natural resources, but local people don’t have access to their benefits. The benefits are reaching a few industrialist friends of Modi ji and Chhattisgarh CM.”
The Congress has been accusing the Modi government of indulging in crony capitalism from time to time, a charge which has been vehemently denied by the saffron party. There was no immediate reaction from the BJP or the state government on Gandhi’s latest allegations.
“In Delhi, Modi ji has 10-15 industrialists friends and similarly Chhattisgarh CM has 10-15 big businessmen friends. Modi ji and Singh never do any work until they take permission from these 10-15 friends,” he alleged.
During the Congress-led government at the Centre, it used to take Rs 35,000 crore to run the MNREGA in a year, Gandhi said, while adding that the project changed the lives of several people in the country.
“Modi ji waived loans of 10-15 industrialists to the tune of Rs 3.50 lakh crore in the past four-and-a-half years. With this huge money, 10 MNREGAs could have been executed,” he said. Gandhi also slammed the prime minister over the Rafale deal.
“Modi ji snatched away the contract of Rafale fighter jets from the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and gave it to Anil Ambani,” Gandhi said. The Congress has earlier also levelled these accusations, which has been rejected by the government as well as by the Ambani-led Reliance Group.
Gandhi said 126 Rafale aircraft were to be purchased as per the UPA deal when the cost of each plane was Rs 526 crore. He alleged the Modi government is purchasing each aircraft at Rs 1,600 crore and a part of the deal was given to Anil Ambani, who formed a company just a few days prior to it.
