INDIA bloc to pay more to women, farmers than BJP gave to its 'billionaire friends': Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the INDIA bloc will give more money to women, youth, farmers and poor than the BJP has given to its "billionaire friends", adding that the alliance in Jharkhand has decided to hike the honorarium given to women to meet their needs to Rs 2,500.
Rahul Gandhi's reiteration came a day ahead of the first phase of Assembly elections in Jharkhand to be held on November 13.
"Yesterday, the fourth instalment of Maiyaa Samman Yojana was credited to the accounts of mothers and sisters in Jharkhand. This scheme is especially helping women fight inflation and live with self-respect. That is why we have decided to further increase the amount given under this scheme," Rahul Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
From December 2024, women in Jharkhand will be given an honorarium of Rs 2,500 under the scheme which is benefiting 53 lakh women in the state, the Congress leader said.
"I have said it before and I am repeating it -- INDIA (bloc) will give more money to women, youth, farmers and poor to meet their needs than what the BJP has given to its billionaire friends," the former Congress chief said.
The Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha combine is seeking to retain power in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, while the BJP is seeking to oust the ruling coalition in the polls to be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20. The results will be announced on November 23.
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
