Rahul Gandhi concludes Telangana padyatra, says 'acche din' have come only for Narendra Modi

Hyderabad: Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said "achche din" have come only for Modi and few businessmen close to him.

"It is a government of selected people. It is a government of suit-boot and selected industrialists. Acche din have not come for people but for Modi, who is visiting different countries," said Rahul after winding up his 15-km long padyatra in Adilabad district of Telangana to console families of farmers who committed suicide due to financial distress.

In another dig at Modi, he asked the crowd, "Is there anybody among you who wears a Rs 10 lakh suit?"

Stating that the NDA government is trying to pass the Land Acquisition Bill in a hurry, he alleged that the legislation will give powers to the government to take away farmers' lands without their consent, which was made mandatory by the UPA government.

He claimed the government was also trying to do away with existing provision for returning lands to farmers if projects don't come up in five years and also the provision for social audit on the impact of land acquisition on farmers.

The Congress Vice President claimed that wherever he goes, people tell him that they committed a mistake by voting for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Land Acquisition Bill proposed during Congress-led UPA regime said that if land is acquired, then there should be a social audit to assess the impact on all those affected, Rahul asserted.

"The previous UPA II regime brought in a new Land Acquisition Bill so that your families benefit from the increase in prices of land," Rahul reminded the farmers.

Rahul also talked about how the Congress government had waived farm loans of Rs 70,000 crore and had increased agriculture credit to farmers by 700%. "The Congress party helped the farmers whenever they were in trouble," said Rahul.

Rahul met the family members of Velma Rajeshwar, who allegedly committed suicide due to debt burden of nearly Rs 12 lakh, and consoled them.

He handed over a Rs 2 lakh cheque to Rajeshwar's widow Gangavva.