BJP 'doublespeak' on freebies exposes 'crony capitalism' mindset: Cong

NEW DELHI: With the Assembly elections approaching in five states, and the Lok Sabha elections just around seven months away, the BJP has been accusing the Congress of indulging in 'revari' politics by offering freebies to people to win votes.

The Congress, on its part, slammed the BJP, saying that it is a doublespeak by the saffron party just to lure voters, and also said that the grand old party is only trying to help people to have basic amenities in their lives and if the saffron party calls it revari politics then it shows their mindset that they are pro-rich.

Speaking to IANS, Congress leader Syed Naseer Hussain said, "We have to understand one thing that this government at the Centre has been there for the last nine years and the last nine years have been for the rich and big businesses.

"The poor people in the country have had no income for the last one decade, their income has gone down, poverty has increased, unemployment has increased and spending out money has decreased," he said.

Targeting the government, Hussain said that the responsibility of the government is to see that each and every citizen of that country has access to basic amenities, basic livelihood, and something to survive upon.

"So Congress in different states has been trying to help the poor people to survive so that they get basic facilities and basic amenities to have some sort of decent living," he said.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP, he said, "So if the prime minister, union home minister and BJP think that these are revadis then these remarks only only show their mindset that they are pro-rich, pro-businessmen, pro-corporate and crony capitalists."

"And the Congress has always spoken about the poor and stood for the poor and fought for their cause. Because Congress continues to stand by the poor and seeks to utilise the various resources of the central government and the state government," the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said.

When asked about the several schemes of the Centre for direct benefit transfer to farmers and providing foodgrains to the people, he said, "Actual spending of the farmers has increased manifold in the last one decade. What they are actually giving is peanuts. Whatever amount of Rs 2000 to farmers will help the BJP get votes but their intention is not to give proper income to the farmers to meet their needs. Their only intention is to lure them for votes. Giving Rs 2000 is not revari, providing foodgrains is also not revari."

"Congress continues to fight for the poor and stands by them. At the same time we would really want the government to rescue the people from their condition. During UPA rule gas cylinder prices were around Rs 450 and now it has gone up to Rs 1,100, and now they have reduced the prices by Rs 200. They have done it (reducing price) ahead of the state Assembly polls and also ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Whereas for the past nine years they have continuously raised the prices to Rs 1,100 and now reduce by Rs 200 .It is being done to lure people."

"It is a double speak by the BJP, they are falling in their own trap. People have understood that the government is pro-rich and they want to support crony capitalists and the Congress will fight for the poor," he added.

Ahead of the Raksha Bandhan, the government had reduced the price of LPG cylinders by Rs 200.

The BJP has also been accusing the Congress of doling out sops ahead of the Assembly polls in states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.