‘Will give special status to Andhra, if voted in’: Rahul Gandhi in Vijaywada

Vijaywada, Mar 31: Ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019, which are scheduled to be held in seven phases beginning from April 1, poll campaigns across the country have gathered heat.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday promised to provide special category status to Andhra Pradesh, if the party was voted to power in coming Lok Sabha elections, and expressed surprise that parties in the state failed to 'aggressively' push the issue.

"It is not only a commitment made by Congress&Manmohan Singh ji, it's a commitment made by the country to Andhra Pradesh. It's our commitment that we'll give special status to Andhra Pradesh the moment we come to power in Delhi," said Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Vijaywada.

Assuring that his party would also launch a 'surgical strike' on poverty, the Congress chief said Nyay, his promise of a minimum income scheme, was a "non-violent weapon" that will be used to uplift the poorest.

Addressing his first election rally here in the state, which goes to simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi said while the previous Congress-led UPA had created poverty eradication schemes, Prime Minister "Narendra Modi dismantled everything."

Gandhi, whose party is contesting the polls in Andhra Pradesh alone, said while Modi did "surgical strikes against the poor" his party will carry it out against poverty.