Camp: Amritsar (Punjab)
Date: 11th May 2009
Time ::10:30 am

Fight for Prime Ministership got over before elections, Manmohan Singh is the only PM : Rahul Gandhi

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh & Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting in Amritsar today. Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “Punjab ki Shaan’ (Pride of Punjab) Rahul Gandhi said that he had taken the country forward at a very fast pace. He added that when UPA came to power in 2004 they had promised that they would form a government for the common man, for farmers of Punjab, for workers and for Dalits & tribal people. And they had lived up to their promise.

Rahul Gandhi said, “Every day, the opposition comes up with new promises. The opposition propagated a different slogan, a slogan in English saying that India was shining. When we asked them where they had got the slogan they said that it was from a television advertisement. Our slogan came from you.” Attacking the opposition he said, “They said that India was shining but did not bother to go to the houses of farmers or workers. You replied to them, you said that you wanted Manmohan Singhji as your Prime Minister. We realized that the previous government had forgotten the poor and we came up with the biggest employment programme. 100 days of employment to every Indian citizen has been guaranteed. We realized that the NDA had forgotten our farmers. One of their Chief Minister, Mr Naidu once asked if we really needed farmers. You feed them and they say they don’t need you.”

Rahul Gandhi emphasized, “Our farmers are the backbone of our nation. We will never leave them or forget them. We came to you and you said that you were under debt. We waived 70,000 crore rupees worth of that debt. We opened the doors of banks for lakhs of our farmers.” Congress General Secretary said, “I was just now talking to the Prime Minister and he said that due to an increase in procurement prices, farmers have benefited to the tune of 2 thousand crore rupees in Punjab
 Whatever we have done, we have always kept the poor in mind. We tried to include the poorest of the poor in the process of development. And this is what we will continue to do in the future. ”

Rahul Gandhi said, “We passed the Right to Information bill through with you can ask any question regarding the functioning of your government.”

Rahul Gandhi told all present that he will not take up too much of their time as they must be waiting to hear the Prime Minister speak. But he said that he would make one last comment on a statement made by former Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amrindar Singh that one side there was LK Advani & on the other Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post of Prime Minister. Rahul Gandhi said, “The fight is over. It got over even before the elections. Manmohan Singhji is the only Prime Minister of India and he will work for Punjab & India once again. He is the pride of Punjab, he is India’s pride and he has made India proud in the international arena.”