Rahul seeks to woo voters with NYAY promises Rs 6K every month to the poor in Kerala

Wayanad (Ker), Apr 4 (PTI) As the campaign for the
April 6 Assembly polls draws to a close, Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi on Sunday gave a further push to his 'Nyuntam Aay
Yojana' (NYAY) to reach out to the voters, promising that
every poor person in the State will get Rs 6,000 every month
"without fail", if the UDF is voted to power.
"The UDF is proposing something revolutionary.Something
that has never been tried in any Indian state before," Gandhi
told a UDF meeting organised at Vellamunda in Mananthavady.
    Gandhi, who reached the venue after offering prayers
at the ancient Lord Mahavishnu Temple in Thirunelli, said the
idea of NYAY was very simple.
    "The idea is that we are going to put money directly
into the hands of the poorest people in Kerala.And not a small
amount of money. Every poor person in Kerala is going to get
Rs 6,000 a month--Rs 72,000 a year-- without fail every month
into his bank account," the Congress leader, who represents
Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha, said.
     Gandhi has given an increased focus on the NYAY
scheme in his poll meetings, apparently in a bid to counter
the ruling Left which is relying heavily on the welfare
schemes implemented by it in the last five years to win votes
in the crucial polls.
    In the last five years, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led
LDF government has substantially increased the welfare pension
for the elderly.
    The welfare pension was Rs 600 when the UDF rule came
to an end in 2016. It is now Rs 1,600 per month, with the
left government increasing the amount in multiple phases.
    The government has also ensured that the pension
amount reaches the beneficiaries every month without fail.
    Bringing up the NYAY idea during the 2019 Lok Sabha
polls, Gandhi had described it as ground-breaking, which would
mark the beginning of the final assault on poverty.
    Last week, the former Congress president had said he
wanted to "test" the scheme in Kerala because if it works
here, he wanted to replicate it in all Congress-ruled states
in the country.
     Earlier in the morning, Gandhi visited Thirunelli
temple in Wayanad with which he has an emotional link.
     An urn containing the ashes of his father and former
prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was immersed in Papanasini, a
stream connected to a famous temple dedicated to Lord
Mahavishnu in the picturesque village, in 1991.
    "Visited Thirunelli Temple, Wayanad early morning
today. The calming atmosphere of this place resonates within
for a long time," Gandhi wrote on his Facebook page after
visiting the temple with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.
     He had also offered prayers at the temple last year
and during his Lok Sabha election campaign in 2019. PTI TGB
BN BN

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)