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Launching Congress' Lok Sabha campaign in Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi today claimed that 15 crore people were pulled out of poverty by the UPA government and a "new class" of 70 crore people has emerged who are below the middle class level and his party wants to do politics for them.
"The new class of 70 crore people, who are above the poverty line but below the level of middle class, has been created in the last ten years and it includes security guards, taxi drivers etc," Gandhi said at a rally in Deoli area of the district.
"We want to do politics for them in order to bring them up to the middle class level," he said.
This was Gandhi's first rally in Rajasthan after the announcement of Lok Sabha poll schedule.
"We do politics to empower people. To pull out people from poverty, to give them honour, rights, education and employment," Gandhi said while promising that his party will not forget the poor.
The Congress leader attacked BJP, saying that its leaders are talking about corruption but why they could not see corruption in their own governments in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
"The previous BJP government in Rajasthan topped in corruption and the present government will also try to repeat those practises, but our workers will not let this happen and expose them on road and in villages," Gandhi said.
"It would be the endeavour of the BJP government in Rajasthan to discontinue schemes like free medicines, pension initiated by our government and to run a government for business and for rich but we will keep fighting for poor people because we want to help them," he said.
He said that Congress will continue to work to provide education and employment to people.
"A project of industrial corridor and Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) was taken up by our government and we are committed to complete them, which will generate employment opportunities for lakhs of people in parts of the country," he said in his concise six-minute address.
AICC General Secretary Gurudas Kamat, PCC chief and Union minister Sachin Pilot, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and several other senior leaders of the party were present in the rally attended by large number of people.
