Cong using Mahatma Gandhi's name for selfish gains: Giriraj

Accusing Congress of killing Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts and using his name for selfish reasons, Union Minister Giriraj Singh today said the party has ruined the establishments related to khadi, a hand-spun cloth that was once greatly promoted by Gandhiji.
"Congress has killed Gandhi's thoughts and their leaders blamed others for it. Congress leaders have made use of Gandhi's name for their own benefits," the Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises told reporters here.
He was talking to media on the sidelines of a meeting of officer-bearers of khadi organisations.
"Gandhi had promoted khadi for the benefit of village industry and women, but Congress ruined the khadi establishments in the last 66 years in the country," he said adding that the Narendra Modi government was promoting the fabric.

"We are spinning khadi clothes according to the needs of modern customers. Besides, we are bringing in a new technique in khadi industry," he said.
"We will come out with a pilot project comprising new models of solar-driven khadi spinning wheels by August. This will enhance income of the workers in this industry. One lakh women will be connected to this project in each Lok Sabha constituency of the country," Singh said.

Asked about the former tainted IPL chief Lalit Modi's frequent tweets which are coming as embarrassments to the government, he said that opposition had no other issue and was creating confusion over it.

In response to a question, he said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav have joined hands due to the fear of the Modi wave in the run up to the assembly elections in the state.
"Lalu was running the Nitish Kumar government with a remote control, but the latter was not putting the RJD leader's posters at his functions," Singh said.
The minister alleged that the crime graph in Bihar has shot up under Nitish rule.