 "Rahul recalls Sonia's tears as he pitches for Congress in MP")
"I will not leave until the bill is passed. I have fought for years for the bill and will not leave until I press that button," Rahul said, giving a blow-by-blow account at an election rally of his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's illness the day the epoch-making legislation was passed.
"When I took her to hospital, she could hardly breathe and tears welled up in her eyes. She said Rahul, I fought for the bill for years, I wanted to press the button (to register her vote) but could not," Rahul said recounting his mother's frustration at not being able to cast her vote.
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"Now the bill has been passed. For the first time in India nobody will go hungry. Your children will not go to sleep hungry. Dalits, adivasis, people of any caste or religion will not go hungry," he said, hardselling the Food Security Act, a measure Congress expects would shield it from anti-incumbency factor in next year's general elections.
The bill seeking to provide cheap foodgrains to 82 crore people in the country, arguably the biggest programme in the world to fight hunger, was passed on August 26 after much delay.
Seeking to unseat BJP in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh after a decade, the Congress leader also attacked the state government for its "hollow" claims about development while lauding Congress-led UPA government for bringing crucial legislations for providing food security and land acquisition, a sensitive issue in mineral-rich Shahdol district which has a large tribal population.
"The BJP can make as many claims as it wants about development but the truth is that under its rule, nothing has been done for the youth, farmers, women and the unemployed," Rahul said addressing the rally at Lalpur, about 18 kms from here.