Congress responsible for poverty in country: Piyush Goyal

COIMBATORE: It is the Congress party and the Gandhi family that are responsible for poverty in the country, charged Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, taking a dig at Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s poll promise to give Rs 72,000 a year to the country’s poorest.

“Currently, the Central government is spending Rs 1,80,000 crore on food security of the 80 crore people in the country. However, Rahul Gandhi is fooling people with the promise that around five crore families will get a minimum income guarantee. Yet, the country will understand (the state of affairs) and not agree with him,” he said, while addressing reporters at campaign meeting at Sungam on Tuesday evening. The BJP senior leader is in the city to campaign for BJP candidate for Coimbatore CP Radhakrishnan.

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The minister claimed that no other person in the country is more capable than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is fighting terrorism and protecting the country’s security. “Modi is working for the development of every section of the society. So far, 50 crore people in the country get treatment under Ayushman Bharat; 90,000 of them are beneficiaries from Tamil Nadu in the past six months alone.

To help women live in a healthy environment, the Modi government has constructed 10,000 crore toilets as a priority. As many as seven crore people in the country have gotten LPG connection so far and 80 to 90 lakh people in the country get Mudra loans,” he listed. Piyush Goyal has also urged the all the party cadres under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to work unitedly for the party’s success in Coimbatore. He wanted Radhakrishnan to win with a difference of three lakh votes, as said by Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani.