Will revisit Agniveer scheme if voted to power: Congress

New Delhi, November 18

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday promised to have a relook at the “Agniveer” scheme of the Central Government if the party was elected to power at the Centre. Addressing an election rally at Vair in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, Kharge said he could understand the problem of those joining the Army after extremely tough tests and forced to quit after four years and becoming unemployed once again.

The Congress president reiterated the poll “guarantees” announced by the party, which will be over and above what the Ashok Gehlot-led government is already providing to people in Rajasthan.

The guarantees include Rs 10,000 every year to the woman head of every family, free laptops/tablets to government college students in their first year, English medium education for all, LPG cylinders for Rs 500 each, procurement of cow dung at the rate of Rs 2 per kg, legal guarantee of old pension scheme for government employees and Rs 15 lakh insurance cover for everyone against natural calamities.

Kharge asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can try as much as he wants but the Congress will retain its government in Rajasthan under all circumstances. He said the BJP was working “towards making the rich richer and the poor poorer”.

“When we do something for the poor, Modi calls it freebies, whereas he waived loans worth Rs15 lakh crore borrowed by rich people, the Congress leader said. He also accused Prime Minister Modi of selling to its favourite billionaire friends “Adani and Ambani” public sector assets created by the Congress governments in the past. The Assembly polls in Rajasthan will be held on November 25. The votes will be counted on December 3.