P Chidambaram said the poor in India have the first charge on the resources (File)
Rahul Gandhi's Minimum Income Guarantee promise for the poor is "historic" and will mark a turning point in the lives of India's masses, former finance minister P Chidambaram said in a series of tweets.
Rahul Gandhi announced at a ''Kisaan Abhaar Sammelan'' rally in Chhattisgarh that the Congress would provide guaranteed minimum income to the poor if it returned to power.
In a series of tweets, Mr Chidambaram, a senior Congress leader who was finance as well as home minister in the previous UPA government, said 140 million people were lifted out of poverty between 2004 and 2014, the Congress-led government was in power.
Mr Chidambaram said the principle of Universal Basic Income (UBI) had been discussed extensively in the last two years and the time had come to adapt the principle to the country''s situation and the needs and implement it for the poor.
"We will explain our plan in the Congress Manifesto," he said.
The Congress leader said "the poor in India have the first charge on the resources of the country and the party will find the resources to implement the promise of Rahul Gandhi."
Mr Chidambaram has been appointed the chairman of the Manifesto Committee of the Congress for the national election due by May.