Eye on polls,rising Cong demand to name food scheme after Rajiv Gandhi

Sources said the suggestion received the backing of the full house.

As the Congress goes into an overdrive to hard sell the food security initiative with ahead of the polls,a demand to name it after Rajiv Gandhi is gaining ground in the party as it fears opposition-ruled states may appropriate the potential vote-catcher scheme. Leaders feel affixing the former prime ministers name will ensure that the UPA retains its authorship.

At a meeting of state congress presidents and AICC secretaries convened by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to discuss the initiative,several PCC presidents including Bihars Ashok Chaudhary,Punjabs Partap Singh Bajwa and West Bengals Pradeep Bhattacharya are learnt to have made a pitch for naming the scheme after Rajiv Gandhi.

Sources said the suggestion received the backing of the full house. Those who spoke in favour of naming it after Rajiv Gandhi are learnt to have referred to complaints that many states had usurped the NREGA UPA Is flagship rural employment guarantee scheme. The Centre later rechristened the scheme,prefixing Mahatma Gandhi to NREGA. Leader of the opposition in BJD-ruled Orissa,Bhupinder Singh,is learnt to have said that the state government has re-named MNREGA. Congress-ruled Delhi and Haryana have announced rollout of the scheme from August 20,the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.

Addressing the meeting,Rahul is learnt to have told the leaders that they have to publicise what he termed as historic scheme and prepare the people to fight for their legal entitlement. Sources said Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Food Minister K V Thomas urged states chiefs to ensure that party men visit each and every beneficiary household.

We have given them a right. You prepare them to fight, Rahul was quoted as saying by leaders. He,sources said,referred to the other initiatives taken by the UPA government,including right to education,right to information,right to identity Aadhar and the forest rights act and told them that the food security initiative was the most important among all.

The meeting also saw demands for ensuring a role for opposition parties in monitoring its implementation in states. The demand stems from the apprehension that the Congress will have no say in its implementation in opposition-ruled states. Bajwa is learnt to have argued that MPs should be involved in the process of finalising the beneficiary list.