New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) Union Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan sharply attacked the opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

He accused them of petty politics over renaming rural employment schemes and ignoring the real benefits delivered to people in poverty under the Modi government.

Chouhan, responding to criticism about changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (originally NREGA), said the scheme was launched without Mahatma Gandhi’s name. He claimed the Congress-led UPA added it later for political mileage.

He pointed out that several schemes bear the names of former Prime Ministers from the Gandhi family: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi. He claimed this promoted a “one family” narrative.

When Congress MP Pramod Tiwari countered by mentioning the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju intervened, clarifying that it was named by a private entity and not with government funding.

Chouhan escalated the debate by highlighting allocations from the Rural Development Ministry to West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy then raised a point of order, questioning whether the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to release pending funds to the state.

Defending flagship initiatives, Chouhan praised “Ayushman Bharat” for providing healthcare to poor families.

He sarcastically asked the Congress, “Whose poverty did you eliminate? You only engaged in vote-bank politics.”

–IANS

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