Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Sep 21 (Representative) In a no-holds-barred assault against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged on Thursday that inflation and unemployment are direct consequences of central policies under which public property such as PSUs, ports and airports were also handed over to the Prime Minister’s “tycoon friends.” Addressing her party’s Mahila Samriddhi Sammelan in this Steel City of election-bound Chhattisgarh, the visiting dignitary averred, “Thousands of crores are being expended on Yashobhoomi; Rs 20,000 crore were blown on construction of the new Parliament building and the Prime Minister had a couple of aircraft – each priced at a whopping Rs 8,000 crore – purchased for his travels but he cannot answer for pathetic roads, lack of jobs and skyrocketing prices!. The country’s peasant has a dismal average income of Rs 27 per day while Mr Modi’s industrialist buddy raked in Rs 1,600 crore on a single day.” Referring to the recent G20 New Delhi Summit, Mrs Priyanka accepted that the nation’s prestige is vital but added in the same breath that it is incorrect to forget the indigent and the middle class.
“What the Centre snatched from the impoverished and the middle class was used for ‘irrigating’ the Prime Minister’s corporate chums. You must have often thought that people – especially leaders – are power-hungry. In my experience, some bigwigs seek power solely for enhancing their status, raking in lucre and living in palaces,” she thundered. In her words, when politicians approach the electorate to ask for votes on the basis of religion, caste and community; the electors should shoot back by asking, ‘What did you achieve for us?’ “Prices are so high that a rather heavy load rests on my sisters’ shoulders. When someone falls ill at home or there is some other crisis, the lady of the house experiences tremendous trepidation. When women go to the market, they are compelled to return without making half the planned purchases. The woman is the nation’s backbone as she smilingly lifts the entire burden of society and family. In every dwelling, she switches off the last light at night,” Mrs Priyanka added.