Narendra Modi at the Bhopal rally.
New Delhi:
Who is more pro-poor - the BJP or the Congress?
While the jury may be out on that contentious question, the two rival parties have already started a fierce clamour to grab that tag in the run-up to the crucial elections ahead.
This also marks a move ahead from their bitter exchanges on growth, witnessed earlier this week, with claims and counterclaims over established statistics and facts.
Narendra Modi, at a rally in Bhopal today, claimed it is his party, the BJP, that has been practising inclusive growth, another word for pro-poor policies. "The Congress has been in power for 60 years, but only now have they remembered inclusive growth," the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said.
"The poor, illiterates, males, females, old, young... the BJP works for all. Congress has never worked for them. I once made the mistake of mentioning this at the Chief Ministers' meet. Congress ministers were stunned. They found out that I was correct," Mr Modi said.
The Gujarat Chief Minister's claims, however, may rattle his presumptive counterpart within the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, who has been banking on the party's slogan of inclusive growth to present a pro-poor image of the party.
With its populist schemes in the last nine years like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Food Security Act, the Congress has always claimed to be the only part with an inclusive agenda.
Mr Gandhi had, at a rally in Rajasthan recently, reiterated that image by calling his politics "the politics of common man's dreams." "Our politics is the politics of your dreams. I want to give up my dreams and make your dreams mine," the Congress vice-president had said.
While Mr Modi may have hijacked what has been a Congress slogan so far, the last word on who practices inclusive growth may only be known once the ballots are counted after the next general elections.
While the jury may be out on that contentious question, the two rival parties have already started a fierce clamour to grab that tag in the run-up to the crucial elections ahead.
This also marks a move ahead from their bitter exchanges on growth, witnessed earlier this week, with claims and counterclaims over established statistics and facts.
Narendra Modi, at a rally in Bhopal today, claimed it is his party, the BJP, that has been practising inclusive growth, another word for pro-poor policies. "The Congress has been in power for 60 years, but only now have they remembered inclusive growth," the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said.
"The poor, illiterates, males, females, old, young... the BJP works for all. Congress has never worked for them. I once made the mistake of mentioning this at the Chief Ministers' meet. Congress ministers were stunned. They found out that I was correct," Mr Modi said.
The Gujarat Chief Minister's claims, however, may rattle his presumptive counterpart within the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, who has been banking on the party's slogan of inclusive growth to present a pro-poor image of the party.
With its populist schemes in the last nine years like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Food Security Act, the Congress has always claimed to be the only part with an inclusive agenda.
Mr Gandhi had, at a rally in Rajasthan recently, reiterated that image by calling his politics "the politics of common man's dreams." "Our politics is the politics of your dreams. I want to give up my dreams and make your dreams mine," the Congress vice-president had said.
While Mr Modi may have hijacked what has been a Congress slogan so far, the last word on who practices inclusive growth may only be known once the ballots are counted after the next general elections.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
