Naidu hits back at Rahul; seeks Cong support for passing bills

New Delhi, March 8: Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi over his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today accused Congress of offering only "lip-service to the poor" and asked it to help pass bills pending in Parliament.

"You (Congress) have been attacking the Prime Minister all these days and at times even personally. You have been enjoying it all these days. Do whatever you want. But do not attack poor by stalling Parliament and the bills that will affect them. You ruled the country for about 50 years and the poor remained poor. Our government is determined to change this," Naidu said.

The Congress vice president had on Friday accused Modi of launching personal attacks at him in his speech in the Lok Sabha. Gandhi had said "do as much personal attacks as you want, but do not crush the poor, the weak for whom I speak".

Recalling the Prime Minister's pitch for the "village, poor, farmers, workers, women and youth", Naidu listed a number of schemes launched by the NDA government for them, saying they are "testimonials to the inclusive governance agenda of Modi".

He also talked about various other measures and reforms saying they aimed at helping different sections of the society and eliminating corruption and help the government to a adopt targeted approach.

"Everyone agrees that with the implementation of a well- designed GST, there will be an increase of 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent in GDP growth. This increase will make the government help the poor more through more welfare and development activities. So please support all these bills and help the government to help the poor," the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.

Alleging that all these days, Congress party had been offering lip-service to the poor, Naidu claimed that while "words for the poor and deeds for the rich" has been the mantra of Congress, "deeds to match the words" is the government's path. "Please do not create obstacles in our path. I urge upon all the political parties to please cooperate to legislate on important bills and help us to help the poor," he said.

PTI