Rahul's minimum income guarantee promise not meant to be implemented: BJP

The BJP on Monday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi's claim of ensuring minimum income guarantee if his party was voted to power was like "hundreds of other announcements" of the opposition party that were not meant to be implemented and asserted that people had seen through the opposition party's games.

"The people of India know the reality of the Congress and have seen through its games," Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, following Gandhi's announcement at a public meeting in Chhattisgarh.

He said the Congress governments did not waive farm loans in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, despite promising to do so before the Assembly polls in these states, and added that Gandhi's announcement was a "same kind of sop".

"Gandhi's claim to provide minimum income guarantee for the poor is like hundreds of Congress announcements which are not meant to be implemented. His party remained in power for 58 years at the Centre and made thousands of announcements. If they had been implemented, the face of the country, including that of the poor, would have been different," Prasad said.

He termed the Congress chief's assurance an "off-the-cuff" announcement, made "without any preparation or provision for funding or a proper agenda".

Gandhi had announced that his party would ensure "minimum income guarantee" for every poor person in the country if voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.