Congress committed to strong Lokpal: Rahul

Vowing to bring in a strong Lokpal, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that his party was committed to the upliftment of poor, farmers and common man.

"It (Congress) introduced a bill for a strong Lokpal...a strong lokpal is a dream of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi...Congress is committed to ameliorate common man, the poor and farmers," Rahul said at an election rally in this border town of Punjab.

Accusing the opposition of scuttling Lokpal, he said that a strong Lokpal is a dream of our youth.

Referring to Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's 'Jan Chetna Yatra', the congress general secretary asked did he (Advani) not see prevalence of corruption in Punjab, Chattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul said that farmers would be benefit immensely by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector.

"The Congress is of the opinion that farmers should get much more for their produce than what they are getting now," he said adding that the party introduced a bill in the Parliament on land acquisition so that farmers were benefited after their land was acquired.

Taking a dig at the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP, he said they acquire farmers land but do not provide remunerative prices for the acquisition.

Rahul said that the United Progressive Alliance government strived for upliftment of Dalits, poor, common man and labourers.

Taking a dig at the NDA slogan of "India shining", he said they don't eat and drink with the common man and prefer to move in big vehicles.

He said now the SAD-BJP alliance is talking about "Punjab shinning" and promises to make the state like California.

"They (SAD-BJP) talk big but are not interacting with farmers, common man, labourer and poor", he said.

"If Punjab is shinning as per Akalis then I want to ask them why common man and labourers and farmers are not shinning in the state," he questioned. He said that the Congress-led UPA brought Employment Guarantee Scheme for the benefit of unemployed youths.

Rubbishing the SAD-BJP claim that the Congress-led government at the Centre always meted out "step-motherly" treatment to Punjab, he said that "the Congress looks towards all the states with same eye."

He said that the prime minister, who people of Punjab gave to the Country, helped Punjab a lot in the past few years.

"We are helping Punjab through various schemes," he said adding that "the central funds are not properly utilized by the SAD-BJP alliance."

Projecting Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh as the next chief ministerial candidate of Punjab, he said that "Amarinder will become CM after you support him...Congress will win in Punjab and Amarinder will become CM."