PM Modi can criticise Congress as much as he wants but should not 'take away' rights of poor, says Mallikarjun Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. File Pic

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said people in rural India are forced to wander from door-to-door in search of work under MGNREGA while the prime minister was "hiding his failures" by criticising the Congress in poll-bound states, reported news agency PTI.

Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan over exam paper leaks, corruption and law and order, saying it cared only for its "vote bank" and not the people of Rajasthan.

The Congress president said the prime minister can criticise the Congress as much as he wants, but should not take away the rights of the poor.

Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that due to reducing incomes and rising inflation, the poor are forced to wander door-to-door in search of employment opportunities even as demand for MGNREGA has risen and its budget reduced drastically.

"The economic crisis in rural India is so deep that in September the demand for MGNREGA has increased by 30% in 4 years. Instead of doing anything about it, the Prime Minister is cursing the Congress in his speeches in election-bound states for hiding its monstrous failures under his speeches," Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

The Congress chief claimed that due to drastically decreasing household income and inflation, "crores of people are forced to wander from door to door in search of work under MGNREGA".

The situation is that only four percent funds are left in the MGNREGA budget, Mallikarjun Kharge claimed.

"The country remembers that in Budget 2023, Modi government had cut the MGNREGA budget by 33 percent, as a result of which poor families are suffering, funds of opposition ruled states are also outstanding," he added.

The Congress has been attacking the Modi government over the issues of rising inflation and the handling of the economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan over exam paper leaks, corruption and law and order, saying it cared only for its "vote bank" and not the people of Rajasthan.

In his third rally in a fortnight in poll-bound Rajasthan, Modi also recalled the communal violence in Jodhpur last year and accused the Congress government of "appeasement".

"When Jodhpur was burning during the riots, what was the chief minister doing? When there was violence here and innocent people were being killed, what was the Congress doing," he asked.

"Is the first and the last policy of the Congress just appeasement? Be it Ramnavami, Parashuram Jayanti or Hanuman Jayanti, there is no festival when there is no news of stone pelting from Rajasthan," he said.

He said when law and order is in such a state, there is no investment and trade suffers. "But the Congress cares more about its vote bank than Rajasthan's well-being," PM Modi said.

The rally was held at Ravan ka Chabutara grounds in Gehlot's Sardarpura assembly constituency in Jodhpur -- a Bharatiya Janata Party's show of strength on the CM's home turf ahead of the assembly polls. Earlier, at a different venue, Modi launched development projects worth about Rs 5,000 crore.

(With inputs from PTI)