Rahul makes BIG promise, assures Rs 72,000 per year to poor

New Delhi, Mar 25: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday made a major promise on minimum income guarantee to the poor and said "most poor families will get yearly Rs 72,000 in their bank accounts" if the party is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Five crore families and 25 crore people will directly benefit from this scheme, he said, adding, "All calculations have been done."

Gandhi was addressing the media after the party's crucial CWC meeting ahead of the polls held to finalise the manifesto.

"I want to tell the poor that the line would be Rs 12,000... The Congress guarantees that 20 per cent of India's poor would make at least Rs 72,000 annually," he said, describing it as "final assault on poverty".

Furher to shied the announced move from the questions if it would be financially viable, Gandhi said, "the plan was "fiscally prudent" and implementable."

"It is an extremely powerful, extremely dynamic, extremely well-thought idea. We have done all the calculations. We have spoken to economists. This is a ground-breaking idea," he added.

The Congress president said that Chidambaram and others on the manifesto committee will give the details of the minimum income support scheme.

It must be recalled that the BJP-led government had promised Rs 6,000 annual income support for poor farmers in its last Budget before the Lok Sabha elections.