Rahul will address farmers’ rally on April 19: Digvijaya

NEW DELHI: Congress on Monday said Rahul Gandhi will address a farmers' rally on April 19 even as it widened the ambit of its upcoming agitation by saying that dilution of land acquisition bill was only symptomatic of BJP's "anti-poor" mindset, evident in the Modi government's refusal to increase support price for crops and in the non-implementation of food security law.

AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh told reporters that Sonia Gandhi and senior leaders would be present at the rally. But as he faced a volley of questions on how Sonia's renewed activities should be viewed along with Rahul's continued absence from agitations, he said, "Rahul will address the farmers' rally."

The public enunciation from the person in-charge of agitational programmes against the Modi regime reflected confidence in Congress that the Gandhi scion would be back from his sabbatical in time.

The unceasing speculation over the unending sabbatical has unnerved the Congress camp. There are repeated queries if all is fine with the first family's plan of transition of power and if Rahul is not sulking with a wishlist which should be fulfilled for him to be back.

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Sonia had to assure about Rahul's early return on her tours to Amethi in UP and Madhya Pradesh.

Training the party guns at the Centre, Singh said Modi government's "intent is to snatch the land of farmers and poor", reflected in the haste with which the Centre issued the ordinance to dilute the acquisition law passed by the UPA.

The Congress general secretary argued that BJP's anti-poor mindset was visible in the non-implementation of the food security Act and the refusal to increase support price for farmers. "From October 2014, it was put off by six months for April 2015 and now for October 2015. The number of beneficiaries has also been reduced from 67% to 40%," he said.

Congress upped the ante on farmers' front in the wake of unseasonal rains that have resulted in suicides in families that are staring at penury after the loss of crops. Reminding that UPA had waived farmers' loans worth Rs 72,000 crore, Singh said, "If Modi has courage, let him also waive the loans for farmers."

He dismissed reports that PM Modi was discussing the issue of waiver with bankers, saying, "Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh took decisions instead of holding discussions."

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