Rahul defends FDI in retail

Addressing public meetings in UP's Farrukhabad district, about 250 kilometers from Lucknow, which is known as a ‘potato belt', Rahul said about 60 per cent vegetables get rotten in the country and the farmers did not get remunerative prices for their produce.

“We had planned to bring the FDI to help the farmers but the opposition parties - BJP,SP and BSP - did not let us do that. It shows that they are against the farmers'', Rahul said in an apparent attempt to win the support of the potato farmers. Owing to a bumper potato crop this year and lack of storage space, the farmers were forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices.

He launched a direct attack on the trusted Mayawati minister Naseemuddin Siddique, against whom the Lokayukta has been probing charges of corruption. Rahul alleged that Siddique's family members had used the Bundelkhand package given by the centre for development projects to buy tractors for themselves.