Rahul promises special category status for AP

The Congress president also declared that all farm-related loans taken by poor farmers of the country will be waived by the UPA government

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday that if his party comes to power in the Centre in 2019, the UPA prime minister will first sign the file granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

He also declared that all farm-related loans taken by poor farmers of the country will be waived by the UPA government. He was addressing a public meeting “Satyameva Jayathe” organised by the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) in Kurnool.

Rahul said that the Congress will never cheat the people, like Prime Minister Narendra Modi does, who went back on the promise made by another PM Manmohan Singh. “It was a promise made by a prime minister not a party chief and it is binding on the incumbent PM to implement those assurances given to the state that lost a lot, due to the bifurcation,” Rahul said.

Lauding the contribution of former chief ministers from Kurnool, Damodaram Sanjivayya and Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, Rahul said that more such leaders must come from the district. “While we gave leaders without a blemish, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi runs a government that only supports the rich and famous,” Rahul said.

“Just as Modiji can’t look straight into my eyes when I was asking about the Rafale deal, he can’t look into the eyes of people of AP. He can’t look into your eyes on the issue of special category status,” Rahul said.

He alleged that the GST and demonetisation have been implemented to benefit the rich. “While the Congress ploughs back money into peoples’ pockets, Modi gives them to 15 richest people of the country,” he said.

Earlier, Rahul interacted with students at the Byreddy Convention Centre. Answering their queries on employment, Rahul said that money must be made available to the young men and women so that they can set up enterprises to provide more jobs.

“The present government gives loans to only a few rich,” he told them. He said that the UPA government will set up food processing units to create demand for agricultural commodities.

APCC chief Raghuveera Reddy, state AICC in-charge Oommen Chandy and former chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy were also present.