Rahul wants to siphon off Rs 2 lakh crore of public money: Smriti Irani

Slamming the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi for their proposed minimum income guarantee scheme, Union Minister Smriti Irani said that Rahul wants to siphon-off Rs 2 lakh crore from the present Rs 5 lakh crore given to the poor by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government through direct benefit transfer.

"Rahul Gandhi declared that Congress party will not give Rs 5 lakh crore but will take Rs 2 lakh crore out of it. What will they do with that money? I want to ask Congress why it wants to misappropriate Rs 2 lakh crore?" Irani said.

Lashing out at the Congress, she accused the party of looting the public exchequer since generations.

"This is the hand that has looted the wealth of the nation for many years, but they will not succeed this time as the child of a poor is standing as a chowkidar," she said adding, "this time Rahul's dream of misappropriating Rs 2000 crore will not get fulfilled".

She even accused the Congress of standing with Pakistan instead of India after the Pulwama attack.

"Who thought when the blood of our soldiers will flow in Pulwama, the Congress will stand with Pakistan instead of our own country. Sam Pitroda, the guru of Rahul Gandhi, said that such incidents use to happen in Hindustan," said Irani.

"Congress insults the martyrdom of our soldiers. The Congress party that calls Army chief a goon is acceptable to you? The spokesperson of the party that puts a question mark on the capability of our Air Force is acceptable to you?" asked Irani.

While taking a jibe at SP-BSP alliance in the state, she said that a cycle will definitely get punctured if an elephant rides on it. "When an elephant rides on a bicycle, it gets punctured," Irani said.

As per the present electoral arrangement, SP, BSP and RLD are in a seat-sharing alliance in Uttar Pradesh in which SP will contest on 37 seats, BSP on 38 and RLD on three. The alliance has decided not to contest two seats, Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held from April 11 and will go on till May 19 in seven phases. The polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in all seven phases, and counting of votes will take place on May 23.There are 80 Lok Sabha seats at stake in Uttar Pradesh.