Rahul Gandhi clear on Amaravati but clueless on YSRCP support

KURNOOL: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a Bharat Jodo Yatra, on Wednesday reiterated his and his party's support for the establishment of Amaravati as the only capital of Andhra Pradesh.

After his yatra entered Andhra Pradesh, the former AICC president answered a host of questions during a press meet held in Kurnool. While Rahul Gandhi was categorical in his reaction to the issue of Amaravati, he skirted several other tricky questions, hiding behind the refrain that 'it was not in his jurisdiction to answer'.

On the capital issue, the Gandhi scion felt that it was not wise to go in for three capitals in the name of decentralisation. He said that he met the farmers of Amaravati, who gave away their lands for the capital development, on Monday and said that the Congress party would fight for the rights of the farmers, who, he said, were cheated.

Rahul Gandhi also minced no words in spelling out his party's stand on the special status to Andhra Pradesh. "It was one of the issues promised to the people of Andhra Pradesh as part of the state reorganisation act by the Union of India (Union government). The current dispensation at the Centre (BJP's NDA government) should address it. We are committed to everything that was promised for Andhra Pradesh. When we come to power, we will complete Polavaram and other pending projects besides granting Andhra Pradesh the special category status," he claimed.

To a question if the Congress party would take the support of the YSRCP to come to power at the Centre, Rahul Gandhi safely dodged the issue, saying that it was not in his jurisdiction to respond. "These are all questions that will be answered by the Congress party and the leadership. It is not in my jurisdiction to answer," said the former AICC chief.

Rahul Gandhi was also quizzed about his views on the way forward for the resolution of the inter-state river water disputes between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana that raged post bifurcation of the state. "As far as dispute resolution, there is a well-established mechanism to address the issues and I'm no one to comment on that," was his terse response.

And ditto was his reaction to a question about the Congress party's action plan for the development of the backward areas of the Rayalaseema region.

Except for an emphatic announcement on his party's stand on Amaravati and the capital dispute, he ducked all other key issues pertaining to Andhra Pradesh.

He was, however, more forthcoming in his attack on the BJP and its NDA government at the Centre. He claimed that the BJP-led NDA regime had destroyed the country's economy and its ability to create new jobs and industries. "Measures like GST and demonetisation have largely impacted this. The hard-earned money of the poor and the middle-class has been systematically transferred into the hands of a few businessmen close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make them richer," he said.

"The idea of GST is to have a process of consultation with the states. Instead, the BJP-led government has simply imposed it on them. We are against the basic design of the GST which should be simplified instead of a five-layered taxation, as it is now," Rahul Gandhi said.

The Gandhi scion also attacked the BJP and its affiliated bodies for their attempts to keep caste issues flared up in several parts, and keep Indian women subservient to men and continue to foment communal unrest by using religion to divide the society.

In response to a question, Rahul Gandhi likened his Bharat Jodo Yatra to a penance (tapasya). "Unlike the BJP's agenda, the aim of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is to bind the society. Through this yatra, I'm understanding the people and the land better and more importantly understanding myself," he said.