"The aam aadmi is groaning under unprecedented price rise. It is no achhe din (good times) for them. It is achhe din only for the Prime Minister," he said on the first day of his two-day visit to his Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
Rahul, who led the opposition attack against the NDA government within and outside Parliament, said only his party was fighting strongly against BJP on the price front.
Addressing a few roadside meetings, including at Nigoha and Chatoh, he asked village heads to raise their voice against cancellation of food park and paper mill projects in Amethi and said Congress wanted all welfare schemes of the Centre and the state to be implemented through gram pradhans.
Later, at a meeting of newly elected village heads at Ramsapur village in Chatoh block, Rahul said, "We could have changed the face of Amethi through mega food park and Hindustan Paper Mill and these projects would have provided employment to 15,000-20,000 people. Land was given for these projects, but BJP doesn't want that a food park or paper mill is set up here."
Noting that the modern panchayati raj system was the
brainchild of his father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul said Congress favoured more powers for village heads.
He claimed various laws enacted by the previous Congress governments gave more powers to village heads, unlike the legislations brought by the Modi government.
The Congress leader alleged the Modi government thrice tried to finish the land acquisition law brought by the UPA government but every time the move was blocked by his party.
He also enquired about progress of MNREGA scheme, another pet project of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government.
Earlier at Nigoha, Rahul said that during the Lok Sabha election campaign Modi had promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every person's account after bringing back the black money stashed away abroad. "Has it been deposited?" he asked sarcastically.
There was minor trouble during Rahul's visit when Congress workers clashed with each other after one car hit another. Two people were injured in the clash.
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