'Biggest attack on poverty,' says Priyanka Gandhi on Congress minimum income vow

New Delhi, Mar 26: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Monday hailed the party's promise of a minimum income guarantee 'Nyay' scheme to the poor as the "biggest attack on poverty".

Earlier in the day, announcing that if Congress is voted to power, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said that the income guarantee scheme which will ensure India's 20 per cent poorest families get Rs 72,000 per annum, if the party is voted to power.

The announcement has triggered a political slugfest, with the BJP saying the plan was not fiscally responsible.

Congress has said that it has consulted several economists, and it was "doable".

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has hit out at the Congress for its scheme and said the Narendra Modi government is already giving the poor what Rahul Gandhi has promised.

Jaitley pointed out that Rahul Gandhi hadn't revealed the source of the funds for the scheme and asserted that poverty can only be removed by providing resources which the Modi government has done in the last five years.

Hitting back at Jaitley, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that it was "shameful" for PM Modi and BJP to oppose such scheme that is aimed at alleviating poverty.