Bhawanipatna, February 6: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his promise of giving minimum universal basic income for the poor if his party voted to power at the Centre, saying he is committed to his word. "I cannot promise Rs 15 lakh to you all. But, I can give my word for the minimum income. No one can stop us from providing minimum income to the poor," he said at a rally here.

The Gandhi scion claimed that be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, they were running their respective governments for "their rich friends". Intensifying his attack against the Centre, Rahul said: "In the Budget, the Centre's scheme is to provide Rs 6,000 per annum to farmers which boils down to just Rs 17 per day. This is not enough to address their plight." He added, "This means each person in a (farmer's) family is getting Rs 3.5, whereas (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi has waived off loans of his industrialist friends worth Rs 3.5 crore. Narendra Modi and Naveen Patnaik are running their governments for their rich friends." Minimum Income Guarantee: Have Started Preparations to Implement the Scheme for Poor in Rajasthan, Says CM Ashok Gehlot.

Rahul drew the attention of the gathering, claiming that Prime Minister Modi and the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states had promised to waive off loans for the farmers for five years but did not do so. The Congress president pointed out that while the BJP-ruled states did not waive off loans, his party completed the task in only two days after coming to power in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Claiming that Patnaik is "remote-controlled" by the Centre, Rahul further said: "Naveen Patnaik obliges by what the PM asks him to do."