Rajiv redux: Rahul says funds for poor diverted

Over two decades ago,his father Rajiv Gandhi had lamented the scant flow of funds to beneficiaries of welfare programmes. On Wednesday,Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi regretted that the situation persisted still. What my father had said long ago is still true. Only 15 paise out of every rupee is reaching the targeted people. Hence,the continuing divide between the rich and the poor in the country, he said during an interaction with students at the Loyola College,Vijayawada,organised by NSUI.

When a student asked him why the rich were becoming richer and the poor poorer,he said this glaring anomaly needed to be rectified. Your late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took some steps to correct this trend but a lot more still needs to be done, Rahul noted.

Asked whether he had a vision for the middle-class people,he again said,Rajasekhara Reddy was an exceptional leader who initiated many schemes to improve the lot of middle-class people, he said.

Rahul also asked the students not to consider him as the future PM. Nobody can predict the future and what lies in store. Anybody can become prime minister, he said.