Rahul not PM face, says Sam Pitroda

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, May 9

Rahul Gandhi is not the PM candidate of the Congress. If the Congress alliance government comes to power, the MPs of the alliance will decide who is the next PM.

Sam Pitroda, adviser to AICC president Rahul Gandhi, said this while interacting with the media at Dharamsala today. Sam, who had remained adviser to the former PM Rajiv Gandhi, said PM Narendra Modi was telling lies about the former Prime Minister. The statement being issued by Modi about the former PM that he used Naval fleet for personal holidays was far from truth.

He said interestingly, the BJP was not seeking votes on its performance in the last five years. The BJP, during the last parliamentary elections, had promised to create 10 crore jobs in the country. However, the data of government agencies that was being withheld by the government reveals that 2 crore jobs were lost in the last five years.

The government launched the Smart City scheme. Now it should tell the people how many Smart Cities have been brought up. The budget on education has been cut from 4.9 per cent of the total budget during the UPA-II to just 3.4 per cent. The national debt has increased by 50 per cent in the last five years. In view of the increasing debt, the present government has mortgaged the future of the country, Sam Pitroda alleged.

He further alleged that the demonetisation and the GST have destroyed the economy of the country. Implementation of the GST and demonetization were the biggest steps taken by the present Narendra Modi government. However, the party was not seeking votes in the name of demonetization and the GST. Instead, it was trying to divert the attention of the people of country towards borders with Pakistan.

Sam Pitroda, however, praised Narendra Modi for carrying forward the digital India movement that he claimed was started by Manmohan Singh. Sam Pitroda was here to meet the Dalai Lama along with his friends.